Louisiana Lawmaker Wants To Know If The Death Penalty Is Too Expensive

In the world of common sense it would seem that the cost of keeping a prisoner alive for the balance of his life would bound to be more expensive than carrying out his sentence for capital punishment would be. To my simple mind the cost of feeding, housing, guarding, and training a dead man would seem to be more economical than keeping one of our most heinous lawbreakers alive. I could be wrong.

You're probably asking the same question that I am, "How could imposing the death penalty be more costly than keeping an inmate alive on death row?' A Louisiana lawmaker, J.P. Morrell, is leading a commission to study that very question. One thing I learned about this study is the cost of carrying out the death penalty comes with a lot of legal expense. The current issues with the drug cocktails needed to carry out the sentence have played a large part in the expense of execution.

Here is what Morrell told the Louisiana Radio Network,

"The chemical composition that they were basically making on the fly to try and replace the existing protocols led to botched executions, exposing those states to millions of dollars in liability under the Constitution for cruel and unusual punishment."

Morrell believes that given the current state of the financial situation in state government that all costs must be investigated and accounted for. His hope for this study is to find an accurate number that is the actual cost of capital punishment in the state of Louisiana. With that information lawmakers can make a better decision as to what is really best for the state in regards to our most serious offenders.