WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- States are wasting millions of dollars on the death penalty when funds could be used elsewhere in the U.S. economic crunch, a report indicated.
"With many states spending millions to retain the death penalty, while seldom or never carrying out an execution, the death penalty is turning into a very expensive form of life without parole," said Richard Deiter, Death Penalty Information Center executive director and the report's author.
Also released Tuesday was a companion poll indicating police chiefs rank the death penalty last among crime-fighting priorities and the least efficient use of taxpayer funds, the center said.
"New Jersey's murder rate has dropped since the state got rid of the death penalty. If other states abolished the death penalty, law enforcement wouldn't miss it and the cost savings could be used on more effective crime-fighting programs," said Police Chief James Abbott of West Orange, N.J., a member of the state commission that recommended the death penalty be abolished.
The extra costs of the death penalty, such as security, are often $10 million per year per state, the information center said, citing cash-strapped California as spending $137 million per year on the death penalty while not performing an execution in nearly four years.
Only 1 percent of police chiefs said the death penalty was the area most important for reducing crime -- well behind such areas as adding more police officers, longer prison sentences and technological innovations.
Police chiefs also ranked the death penalty last as an efficient use of money. Programs viewed as a good use of money included expanded training and more equipment, hiring more police officers, more programs to control drug and alcohol abuse, and neighborhood watch programs.
While the poll was conducted last year, the center said results were released for the first time Tuesday.
