The death penalty can cost
far more than life incarceration. On average, the trials alone cost millions of dollars more than trials where the defense seeks life incarceration, ranging from two to
eight times more expensive.
Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
Add that to the normal costs of maintaining a prisoner for years (as it usually takes many years for the execution to happen,
TIME ON DEATH ROW | Death Penalty Information Center) in death row, and taking the subsequent appeals and investigations into account, and the costs become astronomical. Here's an interesting collection of professionals in the criminal justice world and their opinions on the death penalty versus life incarceration. (
Does the Death Penalty Cost Less Than Life in Prison without Parole? - Death Penalty - ProCon.org) And actually, there are a few proponents of the death sentence who bring up good points, and that the costs don't have to be so high and can be reformed. There's even a proponent of the death penalty who claims that it costs
less in the end (even though he claims this based on the information of one study, which has been refuted by the vast majority of studies into the costs of the death penalty, and really isn't even a study since it's basically guesswork as to what it will cost in the future rather than an examination of what it costs now). Read through the opinions, and decide what you believe.