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Death penalty not efficient, police chiefs say

Poll finds agreement that death penalty is too expensive and serves little deterrent to violent crime, but may be just punishment.

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By Tom Beyerlein, Staff Writer Updated 9:51 AM Tuesday, October 20, 2009

American police chiefs support the death penalty in principle, but don’t think it’s an efficient use of taxpayer money or a valuable tool for reducing violent crime, according to a nationwide poll to be released today, Oct. 20.

A study by the Death Penalty Information Center of Washington, D.C., includes a random poll of 500 U.S. police chiefs conducted by a research firm. The study argues that the death penalty is much more expensive than a system of life imprisonment without parole and is ill-advised in a time of tight state budgets.

“The death penalty is a black hole sucking dollars and not getting results,” said Richard Dieter, the center’s executive director. “The law enforcement leaders of this country are not wedded to the death penalty. They have other priorities for fighting crime and we need to respect those and fund those.”

Among the study findings:

• Greater use of the death penalty ranked last when the chiefs were asked to name the best way to reduce violent crime. The top answers were putting more cops on the street, reducing drug abuse and improving the economy to provide more jobs.

• Fifty-seven percent said capital punishment does little to prevent homicides because killers usually don’t think about the consequences of their actions.

• The chiefs overwhelmingly (83 percent) favor the death penalty for first-degree murder convicts, but only 47 percent favored death when given a choice of a system of life imprisonment without parole and with restitution to victims’ survivors.

• There’s no national statistic on the cost of the death penalty, but every statewide study has shown it’s more expensive than imprisoning killers for life. Studies have placed each state’s annual death penalty costs at $10 million.

Dieter noted that the death penalty is rarely imposed and often overturned on appeal, so the total costs of the system go far beyond prosecuting the convicts who are ultimately executed. “It’s like the moon landing: It’s not the one little rocket landing on the moon, it’s the program.”

Cutting the cost of the death penalty may be impossible without risking the execution of innocent people, Dieter said.

There were 14,000 murders in America last year, but only 37 executions, he noted. But “the south still has the highest murder rate” despite having the most executions. “It hasn’t been making a difference.”

Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said the study raises some legitimate concerns. DNA has shown some inmates have been falsely convicted, he noted, and he doesn’t believe the death penalty is a crime deterrent, but said it may be a just punishment for some heinous crimes.

“One question is, what are we trying to accomplish with the death penalty?” Biehl said. “If it’s deterrence, it doesn’t seem to get the job done at all. If it’s justice, that’s another question.”

“I think in some cases the death penalty is warranted. However, there are issues with the death penalty that need to be resolved, and I don’t think we can ignore the economic impact. The dollars we spend here, we can’t spend anywhere else.”

Kettering Police Chief James O’Dell said, “I don’t know if I can argue” with the study’s findings, but he does believe there’s a place for capital punishment as a deterrent and a punishment.

“I believe in the sanctity of life and it can’t be taken lightly,” he said. But “there are some people, I just have to say, the death penalty was made for.”

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