This week the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee had a public hearing on a bill that would authorize the state auditor to do a one-time study of the cost of administering the death penalty in Missouri. As part of the study the auditor must compare the costs of several cases in which the death sentence was imposed and cases where the person received life without parole. Your state senator serves on the Governmental Accountability Committee. Read this alert on why a review is important. Then contact your senator and urge him to support SB 61, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Keaveny (D-St. Louis). 

SB 61 is important because Missouri has allowed capital punishment since 1977, but has never conducted any study to determine the cost of this public policy. It is not uncommon in these tight fiscal times for government agencies to determine the cost-effectiveness of various state programs. Often audits will reveal waste and duplication. Because the costs of the death penalty are shared between prosecutors, public defenders, the counties, the department of corrections, the state attorney general's office and the courts, it's been difficult to get a complete assessment of the total cost of administering the death penalty. Regardless of whether a lawmaker supports or opposes the death penalty, it is a matter of fiscal responsibility to know the cost of this public policy. Furthermore, a review would show accountability to taxpayers on how their money is being spent.  

In recent years Missouri lawmakers have had to cut funding for valuable programs such as education, transportation and health care for its citizens. A study would give lawmakers hard data on the cost of the death penalty and allow them to consider the cost effectiveness of this policy in light of other pressing needs in the state. While we don't know the cost of the death penalty in Missouri, we can learn from other states. Studies in twelve states have discovered that the death penalty costs an additional 30 percent to up to 10 times more than seeking life without parole. For example, in a 2003 study in Kansas researchers found that the cost of a death penalty case was 70% more than the cost of a comparative non-death case. Until lawmakers know the cost of the death penalty, how can they determine if it is a wise fiscal policy for Missouri?

In 2012 the American Bar Association completed an analysis of Missouri's death penalty laws, procedures, and practices to determine if the death penalty was fairly and accurately administered in the state. While the report highlighted some strengths in Missouri's system, they also pointed out in detail numerous inadequacies. A follow-up cost review of the death penalty would provide valuable information on how money is currently being spent and a better understanding of what it might take to ensure that no innocent person is wrongly convicted and executed.