ling capital murder at $2,316,655. This high cost includes $265,640 for the trial; $294,240 for the state appeals; $113,608 for federal appeals (over six years); and $135,875 for death row housing. In contrast, the cost of housing a prisoner in a Texas maximum security prison single cell for 40 years is estimated at $750,000. This is a huge amount of taxpayer money but the public looks at it as an investment in safety since these murders will never kill again. Retentionists argue that these high costs are due to "the lengthy time and the high expense result from innumerable appeals, many over 'technicalities' which have little or nothing to do with the question of guilt or innocence, and do little more than jam up the nation's court system. If these 'frivolous' appeals were eliminated, the procedure would neither take so long nor cost so much" (Kronenwetter 29). The moral issues concerning the legitimacy of the death penalty have been brought by many abolitionists. They think that respect for life forbids the use of the death penalty, while retentionists believe that respect for life requires it. Retentionists say the bible says, "Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man may his blood be shed." (Genesis 9:6). This classic argument in favor of the death penalty has usually been interpreted as a proper and moral reason for putting a murderer to death. Yet others say that the punishment should fit the crime. Both feelings imply that the murderer deserves to die and it was his own fault for putting himself on death row. Supporters of capital punishment say that society has the right to kill in defense of its members, just as an individual has the right to kill in self defense for his or her own personal safety. This analogy is somewhat doubtful, however, as long as the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crimes has yet to be proven. In the United States, the main objection to capital punishment has been that it was alwa...
