EXPENSIVE AND INEFFECTIVE
Ending the Death Penalty in Nevada
RETRIBUTION AT ANY COST?
• Death penalty trials cost Nevadans at
•
•
•
•
•
least $500,000* more than noncapital cases.1
Only 20% of death penalty cases
result in a death penalty sentence.
Filing a death penalty case costs
approximately $50,000. That money
is spent regardless of outcome.
Nevada has not executed anyone in
over 10 years.
There are over 50 cases pending
currently in Clark County, only a small
fraction of which will result in a death
sentence, all on the taxpayer’s dime.
Pursuing a death penalty case is
always more expensive than a
sentence of life without parole.
Cost Differential of the Death
Penalty in Nevada
$1,400,000
$1,307,000
$1,202,000
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
$598,383
$598,544
$800,000
$715,030
$600,000
$142,265
$400,000
$347,352
$271,318
$541,978
$219,000
$281,000
DeathPenalty Sought
and Sentenced
DeathPenalty Sought
but Not Sentenced
$55,796
$87,256
$30,000
Death Penalty Not
Sought
$200,000
$0
Pre-Trial
$51,138
Trial
Appeal
Incarceration
Figure 1 Source: State of Nevada Performance Audit Fiscal Costs of the Death Penalty 2014
A FUTILE ENDEVOUR
• Nevada cannot currently carry out executions due to pharmaceutical companies’ refusal to sell the
death drug cocktail to states for purposes of capital punishment.
• Nevada spent $858,000 on a new execution chamber in 2015 that will not be used because of the
lack of drug availability.2
• Only 12 people have been executed in the last 40 years in Nevada, yet we continue to incur the costs
of capital trials. Life without parole is enough.
• A 2009 study revealed 88% of criminologists do not see the death penalty as a deterrent.
• Nationwide FBI data shows lower homicide rates in states without the death penalty than in states
with the death penalty.3
• While the death penalty does not stop crime, the money we put towards it could be reallocated to
solving cold cases, rape kits, and other facets of public safety.
* Numbers do not reflect input from all state agencies.
1
State of Nevada Performance Audit Fiscal Costs of the Death Penalty 2014
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nevada/nevada-execution-chamber-construction-moving-forward-despitedrug-cutoff
3 http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-facts/the-death-penalty-anddeterrence
2