ions.Brain-damaged individuals who experience periods of uncontrollable rage and sometimes killPolitical terrorists who are acting for either a religion or a leader of a group that 4honors it's martyrs.Professional hit-men who are ONLY focused on evading captureOther than professional hit-men, few of the people mentioned are actually in a rational state of mind when they commit their crimes. Death as a deterrent is an unrealistic idea for these individuals because either they cannot conceive what they are doing is wrong, or they are not thinking of the consequences of thier actions (www.religioustolerance.org).Capital punishment in California, as in every other state, is more expensive than a life imprisonment sentence without the opportunity of parole. These costs are not the result of frivolous appeals but rather the result of Constitutionally mandated safeguards that can be summarized as follows: Juries must be given clear guidelines on sentencing, which result in explicit provisions for what constitutes aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Defendants must have a dual trial--one to establish guilt or innocence and if guiltya second trial to determine whether or not they would get the death penalty. Defendants sentenced to death are granted oversight protection in an automaticappeal to the state supreme court. These constitutional safeguards translate into: a more extensive jury selection procedure 5a four fold increase in the number of motions fileda longer, dual trial process more investigators and expert testimony more lawyers specializing in deathpenalty litigation and automatic, mandatory appeals Since there are few defendants who will plead guilty to a capital charge, virtually every death penalty trial becomes a jury trial with all of the above necessary requirements and expenses. David Erickson's study of Los Angeles County breaks down the cost of a capital trial and compares it with the costs of a murder trial wher...
