Thursday, September 13, 2012

In justice system, life is cheaper than death

Ector County may be saving taxpayers and the state money by not seeking the death penalty on accused killer James Doyle Burwell. District Attorney Bobby Bland on Tuesday waived the death penalty in Burwell’s capital murder case, in which he is accused of slaying Dick and Peggy Glover in May 2011 in their home. Bland said the family requested that it be waived. The Glover family declined to comment Tuesday.

According to state and national advocacy groups, everything about death penalty cases, including sentencing someone to death, could be as much as three times more costly than sentencing a person to life in prison in a capital case. Richard Dieter, the director of the national nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said costs vary not only state-by-state, but also locally.

Although it’s impossible to estimate a national average of costs for capital cases, Dieter said studies done across the United States allow him to safely estimate that a death sentence costs three times more than a capital case in which life in prison is the sentence.

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