The death penalty is among the many types of punishment given to criminals by courts. In the society that we live in there are laws we must follow in order to maintain a safe environment for everyone. When these laws are broken, people must suffer the consequences. This is true, although, I do not believe that the death penalty should be an option. I feel that people who do wrong in the world will eventually get what they deserve, which may be death, but I also believe that a person should not kill another person.
The total cost of the death penalty is thirty-eight percent greater than the total cost of life without parole sentences. A crime that is punishable by the death penalty in Ohio is aggravated murder with at least one of nine aggravating circumstances. The state of Ohio spent at least $1.5 million to kill one mentally ill man who wanted to be executed. Among the costs were: $18,147 overtime for prison employees and $2,250 overtime for State Highway Patrol officers at the time of the execution. This does not include overtime for twenty-five prison public information officers at the time of the execution. The state spent $5,320 on a satellite truck so that the official announcement of Wilford Berry's execution could be beamed to outside media, and $88.42 for the lethal drugs. Attorney General Betty Montgomery had five to fifteen prosecutors working on the case. Between five and ten percent of the annual budget for the state's capital-crimes section was devoted to the Berry case for five years. Keeping Berry in prison for his entire life would have cost half as much. In Vinton County, Ohio, Judge Simmons ruled that prosecutors could not seek the death penalty against Gregory McKnight. Simmons" ruling stated that the county could not guarantee that McKnight would receive an adequate defense in his capital trial. "The court finds that the potential impact of financial considerations could compromise the defendant's due process rights in a capital murder case," said Simmons.
