The New Case against the Death Penalty

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This year, state budgetary crises have given death penalty opponents their most successful argument yet - money.

Just two states have abolished the death penalty in the past 40 years, New Jersey in 2007 and New Mexico in March. The cost of capital punishment played a key role in both decisions, and is driving current legislative attempts to repeal the death penalty in a number of other states.

The bittersweet reality is that money, rather than morality, has become the tipping point for saving lives. Why?

Administering the death penalty is breathtakingly expensive. Contrary to popular opinion, it costs substantially more to execute people than to send them …