Nevada lawmakers and the public are learning more about the cost of the death penalty. Reno Public Radio’s Will Stone reports the findings of an internal state audit were presented to a legislative committee.
Half a million dollars. That’s about how much more a death penalty case costs the state than one without capital punishment. Or, that’s our best estimate, as state auditor Dan Crossman explains:
“Of note, many of the agencies with significant roles in the death penalty process could not provide actual staff time or related costs attributable to specific cases, and were hesitant to provide estimates. Some estimates provided could not be verified.”
This lack of information was one of most surprising revelations to come out of this audit, which the legislature commissioned in 2013. Crossman says the district attorneys offices in Clark and Washoe County don’t keep track of the hours spent on a case-by-case basis, so it could very well be more expensive.
Democratic Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton of Las Vegas says these gaps in record keeping are “disconcerting."
“The law profession works on billable hours. They keep track of everything they do down to the minute. It would seem to me that there should be a little bit better accounting."
Nevada has only executed 12 people since the late 1970s. The last person was killed in 2006. But more than 80 inmates are currently on death row, and, in Clark County alone, about 60 people are awaiting trials.
According to the non-profit, Death Penalty Information Center, Nevada has the 4th highest rate of death sentences per capita in the country.
Nancy Hart, who’s head of the group the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty, says this report substantiates what many states have already discovered about capital punishment.
"That [the reports] show the death penalty is quite a bit more expensive to prosecute and get sentences on than it is in a system where you have life without parole as the maximum sentence."
Legislators are expected to use the audit next session when discussing how the state carries out this punishment.
