If You Hate Big Government, You Should Oppose the Death Penalty

In Texas, a death penalty case costs about $2.3 million, which is nearly three times the cost of one prisoner's 40-year sentence in a single cell with maximum security. And this fiscal irresponsibility is far from a Texas problem. It's a nationwide phenomenon.

California, arguably the nation's most liberal state, has spent over $4 billion on the death penalty since 1978 and would save $5 billion over the next 20 years if Governor Jerry Brown commuted all those on death row to life without parole.

Not only is the death penalty wasting taxpayers' money, but some of that money is used to kill innocent people.