The justice system, like every other government service, is funded from tax dollars. Just like with health care, education, highways, the military, it’s always a fair question to ask if the public is getting value for their taxes. No aspect of public service should be immune from scrutiny.
And yes, justice has an extremely important value, but I don’t think that makes it completely immune from public scrutiny: are the taxpayers getting good value for their money?
For instance, are the taxpayers of New Jersey getting a good value for the tax dollars they have spent on the death penalty? It was reinstated in New Jersey in 1983. As of 2005, the taxpayers of the state and various counties had paid $253 million to prosecute and house individuals convicted and sentenced to death, over and above what those prosecutions would have cost if the prosecution had sought life in prison. During that 20 year period, New Jersey did not execute a single prisoner. So that was $253 million spent that did not achieve anything. MONEY FOR NOTHING? The Financial Cost of New Jersey’s Death Penalty
Similarly in New York: the Legislature re-instated the death penalty in 1995. In 2004, the highest state court overturned the law. It has not been re-instated. During that nine year period, the state spent $170 million to prosecute the death penalty cases, over and above the normal prosecution costs. Not a single prisoner was executed before the law was held unconstitutional. Was that value for money? Costs of the Death Penalty: Death Penalty Information Centre: New York.
Even when a state actually does carry out death sentences, the cost is high. Comparing the total cost of the death penalty system in Washington against the number of actual executions (5), it is arguable that each execution costs $24 million per execution. Costs of the Death Penalty: Death Penalty Information Centre: Washington.
Then there’s Pennsylvania, which has spent between $800 million and $1 billion since re-instatement in 1978. That works out to $278 million per execution. Costs of the Death Penalty: Death Penalty Information Centre: Pennsylvania.