# Death penalty questions: **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004 "2004-12-04T01:37:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/1 "2004-12-04T01:37:17Z")
In California, I believe there are well over 600 prisoners on death row. I also remember reading that there has not been an execution in approximately 13 years. I am well aware that there are appeals tiers that supposedly go through each case. My question is: Why does it take years to go through each case? and even if it does, I would think that there would be a number of executions every year. Why does the appeal process take so long? and is there ever a finality reached? And if so, why doesn’t the execution take place? ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/2 "2004-12-04T02:09:34Z")
My personal hunch is that there is no incentive for the lawyers to ever end a case. Perhaps I’m cynical, but my experience with lawyers (my best friends are trial lawyers) is that they will always extend rather than push for a resolution. Particularly when the odds are that they will lose. The client has no control at all over the timing. He has waived his right to a speedy trial at his first arraignment. If you want to speed the process, write a way for that waiver to be rescinded at any point, and most convicts will opt to get it over with. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/3 "2004-12-04T02:12:10Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > In California, I believe there are well over 600 prisoners on death row. I also remember reading that there has not been an execution in approximately 13 years. [http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/inmates\_executed.asp](http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/inmates_executed.asp) According to that, the last execution in CA was 29 January, 2002. The guy spent a mere 20 years, 6 months on death row. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/4 "2004-12-04T03:47:19Z")
I just to say thank you for asking this question because it has bugging me for months and I was going to post it myself. The puzzle is not just in California, it is in every state with the death penalty as far as I can tell. In 2002, there were over 3500 prisoners on death row in the U.S. yet there were only 71 executions total. At that rate, it is going to take about 50 years to burn through them all. That was a typical year as far as I can tell. Something doesn’t add up. > **[Crime and Punishment](https://www.thoughtco.com/crime-and-punishment-4132972)** > > Delve deeper into the study of crime. Read criminal profiles, guides to the criminal justice system, statistics, and more. ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/5 "2004-12-04T05:40:24Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > [http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/inmates\_executed.asp](http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/inmates_executed.asp) > > According to that, the last execution in CA was 29 January, 2002. The guy spent a mere 20 years, 6 months on death row. You are correct. In the past 4 and a half years there has been 3 or 4 executions in Cal. What is the purpose of issuing a death sentence when most of the prisoners stay alive 13 to 20 years after sentencing? I would think that the long wait would be cruel and inhuman punishment. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/6 "2004-12-04T06:19:19Z")
Several years ago there was a man in prison in Colorado. I don’t remember the details but he was in for murder and in some manner or another opted for the death penality. At that time there hadn’t been an executation in Colorado for a number of years and according to the article the living conditions on death row were better than in the main population. As I remember things he wasn’t interested in dying for his crimes but in living in a nicer neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/7 "2004-12-04T14:20:58Z")
As I understand it, death penalty cases are frequently prolonged by legal appeals, and sometimes executive actions like a stay of execution from the governor. This is partly because the death penalty is overwhelmingly applied to poor and minority felons who can’t afford good legal representation, so there are usually all kinds of legal flaws in their trials and sentencing that appeals lawyers can exploit to delay execution. The incentive to “speed up the process” is very low because no governor wants to be in the position of having ordered the execution of somebody who turns out to be innocent. An unsettlingly large number of prisoners on death row have been [found innocent](http://members.tripod.com/RobtShepherd/innocent.html): > [@](#): > > For every 7 executions–486 since 1976–1 other prisoner on death row has been found innocent. […] Most [death-row inmates released in Illinois due to overturned convictions] have outsiders to thank. Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess and four of his students followed leads missed by police and defense attorneys to tie four other men to the rape and murders that put four innocent men in prison. As a result, for example, Illinois recently declared a [moratorium](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/01/31/illinois.executions.02/) on carrying out executions until and unless the process can be made more reliable. So I think the answer has the following components: - “Tough on crime” prosecutorial and judicial attitudes are resulting in more death penalty sentences, overwhelmingly for poor and minority defendants (and almost exclusively for the murderers of white rather than minority victims). - Prolonged legal appeals (facilitated by the frequent legal sloppiness of the defense and trial procedures in such cases, which provide a lot of holes for appeals lawyers to pick) drag out the time between sentencing and execution. - Reluctance to risk executing an innocent person weighs against “speeding up” the process, and in one case (Illinois) has produced an outright suspension of all executions. Result: death row bottleneck, where the ratio of prisoners sentenced to death to prisoners actually executed is high. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/8 "2004-12-04T15:32:36Z")
Even at a yearly cost of $30,000+ to keep an inmate in a max-security prison for life, it’s cheaper than executing him. I know it seems counterintuitive, but consider that: In most death-penalty states, appeals are automatic, whether the inmate wants it or not. Most death row inmates can’t afford lawyers, so the state has to pay for both sides of the appeal process. The court can’t appoint your basic wills-and-divorces lawyer, because they’re not qualified to handle a capital appeal. So, the state is paying for a high-priced attorney. Also, in the case of the locked-up-for-life convict, the inmate (if he behaves himself) will be transferred after a while to a cheaper, medium-security joint. We can argue deterrance and the ethical issues of punishment for years, but in terms of money, the death penalty loses. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/9 "2004-12-04T16:14:47Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > As a result, for example, Illinois recently declared a [moratorium](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/01/31/illinois.executions.02/) on carrying out executions until and unless the process can be made more reliable. And since the Illinois legislature failed to make any changes to the process in the intervening three years, outgoing then-Governor Ryan [commuted](http://www.ccadp.org/news-ryan2003.htm) all death sentences in the state to life without parole. I don’t know if anyone has been sentenced to death in Illinois in the last 22 months. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/10 "2004-12-14T05:20:49Z")
And now that Scott Peterson has just pulled the big D here in California, I might as well ask a few more questions: Is there any sort of (well, yes, this is morbid) queue for execution? No, I imagine not. As soon as any particular convict runs out of appeals, they schedule the procedure, right? …but Mr. Peterson is just starting the process, so it’s going to take a long while, right? Uh, would they really move a death-sentencer out of a maximum security facility? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-questions/278004/11 "2004-12-14T08:52:39Z")
Death row is almost always separate from the rest of any given prison.