Is an execution worth the price?

A manager of a state agency has a common-sense solution for saving Virginia a few million dollars in this grim economy: Sentence killers - those found to have committed premeditated murder - to spend the rest of their lives in prison, with no chance ever of getting out.

Doing away with the option of a death sentence makes sense on several levels. It would save the state from having to pay fees associated with lengthy trials and years of appeals. It would end the agony of repeated court hearings for the families of victims. It would eliminate the four perpetually understaffed capital defender's offices, whose attorneys handle appeals automatically generated when people are sentenced to death row.

When prosecutors decide not to pursue a punishment of death, defendants are more likely to plead guilty, The Pilot's Shawn Day reported this week. Even if defendants go to trial, the court costs, borne by taxpayers, are much less expensive, the hearings less likely to be delayed.

At the moment, more than a dozen capital murder cases are under way across Virginia. The fees for the defendants' legal representation during a capital trial - $150 per hour out of court, $200 per hour in court - routinely reach six figures, and that doesn't include other court costs, including the prosecution's.

Given the $3.5 billion gap in the state's budget, David Baugh, who has managed the Richmond-area capital defender's office for 18 months, told Day that Virginia "ought to give serious thought to a moratorium on the death penalty until the budget gets straight."

A moratorium would be a good start. Eliminating the penalty altogether would be better. Besides other valid reasons for ending the practice, including the most compelling - that it would keep the state from killing someone later found to be innocent - getting rid of the penalty would free up money at a time the state is seeing so many needs.

If lawmakers won't listen to the moral arguments for abolishing the death penalty, they should consider the economic benefits. For what it costs to execute one person - in North Carolina, the most recent estimate is more than $2 million - Virginia could educate hundreds of children. It could fill potholes. It could shore up public safety and crime prevention efforts.

Is the cost of an execution really worth it when, for less than half the price, we could put a killer in a prison cell, locked away from society for life?