Professor Craig Haney of UCSC is one of the foremost experts on the death penalty, particularly in California. A study that he just released found that Californians still support the death penalty by an overwhelming 66 percent, but that this number has decreased considerably since a 1989 study, in which almost 80 percent supported the death penalty.
Professor Craig Haney of UCSC is one of the foremost experts on the death penalty, particularly in California. A study that he just released found that Californians still support the death penalty by an overwhelming 66 percent, but that this number has decreased considerably since a 1989 study, in which almost 80 percent supported the death penalty. While strong support for the death penalty dropped from 50 percent to 38 percent, strong opposition to it grew by 12 percent, from 9 to 21 percent. Furthermore, when death penalty supporters were offered the option of criminals receiving life imprisonment have no possibility of release and that they be required to work to compensate their victims, support dropped to 26 percent.
Despite these findings, the real death knell to the death penalty could come from budgetary considerations. While the state is struggling to reduce the cost of its prisons, it is forced to consider what it costs to keep inmates on death row, often for ten years of more. While the average inmate costs the state $25,000 per year, extra security and isolation bring the budget for death row inmates to five times that, or $125,000 per year. Considering that there are now 700 people on California’s death row (most of whom will not be executed), the cost of simply maintaining death row is a staggering $70 million per year. Simply by eliminating the death penalty, the state can make a significant dent in its deficit. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
