Senator Keaveny Sponsors Legislation to Examine Cost of Death Penalty

JEFFERSON CITY —Sen. Joseph Keaveny, D-St. Louis, is again sponsoring legislation that would require the Oversight Division of the Senate Committee on Legislative Research to issue a one-time report on the costs of administering the death penalty in Missouri. Senate Concurrent Resolution 27 would implement the first comprehensive attempt in Missouri to determine the cost of the death penalty, compared to sentencing individuals to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The measure was heard by the Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee today (Feb. 11).

This is the third consecutive year Sen. Keaveny has introduced similar legislation. He noted that Missourians have a right to know how the state’s money is being spent.

“There has never been a study conducted in this state to tell us how much money is spent on the death penalty,” Sen. Keaveny said. “This legislation is not about the death penalty itself. I think it is long past due to know how much money we are spending on this. It is fiscally responsible to know how much money we are asking Missourians to spend on the death penalty when we have so many needs in so many areas of the budget.”

The Death Penalty information Center reports that a new study out of Colorado showed death penalty proceedings took six times as long as life without parole cases. In California a study, “Assessments of Costs” from 2011 concluded that the cost of the death penalty in California totaled more than $4 billion since 1978. The authors of the study went as far as to estimate that if their governor commuted the sentences of those still on death row in their state, it would generate an immediate savings of $170 million per year, even when the sentence was changed with life without parole. 

There are currently 46 offenders serving on death row in our state.

For more information regarding this legislation, contact Sen. Keaveny’s Capitol office at (573) 751-3599 or follow the legislation online at www.senate.mo.gov/keaveny.