As 2025 draws to a close, the empirical data and lived realities of capital punishment make it increasingly clear: the death penalty is not only morally fraught—it is also financially unsustainable. Across the United States, evidence continues to show that executing someone costs taxpayers far more than incarcerating them for life. From specialized housing and lengthy legal processes to the limited role of private prisons, every aspect of capital punishment carries a significant economic and social toll.
At Sustainable Action Now, we work tirelessly with organizations like Death Penalty Focus, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) to advocate for smarter, more humane, and more cost-effective alternatives. Our work is grounded in data, compassion, and the belief that society benefits when we focus on rehabilitation, justice, and fiscal responsibility. You can read more about our ongoing initiatives here.
The Cost of Death Row vs. Life in Prison
In 2025, studies across multiple states confirm what advocates have long known: housing someone on death row is exponentially more expensive than keeping someone in the general prison population. These costs are driven by heightened security requirements, specialized medical and mental health care, and a complex legal system that ensures exhaustive trials and appeals.
Annual Incarceration Costs
- California: It costs approximately $223,000 per year to house a single death row inmate—about $90,000 more than a general population prisoner, who costs $127,800 annually.
- Federal System: Housing a federal death row inmate ranges from $60,000 to $70,000 per year, compared to roughly $37,500 for a general federal prisoner.
Legal and System Costs
Capital trials and appeals dramatically inflate the cost of executions:
- Capital Trials: These are 2.5 to 5 times more expensive than non-capital murder trials due to longer jury selection, additional attorneys, and expert witnesses.
- Appeals: Because a life is literally at stake, appeals are rigorously pursued and can extend for decades.
- Texas Example: Each death penalty prosecution costs about $2.3 million—roughly three times the cost of incarcerating someone in high-security prison for 40 years.
Private Prisons, Death Row, and the Economics of Why Executions Destroy Public Value
Even critics of private prisons acknowledge a critical truth: death row is economically irrational. My idea was to place them in Private Prisons to make money off the inmates.
From a purely fiscal perspective, executions eliminate decades of potential institutional value while imposing some of the most expensive incarceration costs in the entire correctional system.
The state literally spends millions to eliminate a person who could otherwise be securely housed at a fraction of the cost for the remainder of their life.
Why Private Prisons Avoid Death Row
Private prisons are profit-motivated corporations. Their business model is built on predictable, low-cost populations. That is precisely why:
• They avoid maximum-security death row inmates
• They avoid chronically ill inmates
• They avoid capital cases
• They avoid individuals with complex legal monitoring
Death row prisoners require:
• Supermax-level isolation
• Specialized security staffing
• Enhanced medical monitoring
• Continuous legal compliance
• Constant appeal tracking
Every one of these factors destroys profitability.
From a business standpoint, death row inmates are loss leaders, not revenue generators.
The Financial Paradox of Executions
Here is the paradox:
A person sentenced to death becomes dramatically cheaper to the state the moment their sentence is reduced to life without parole.
The same individual — same crime, same risk level — suddenly costs tens of thousands of dollars less per year simply because the state no longer intends to kill them.
Executions do not reduce costs.
They multiply them.
And once executed, the state permanently eliminates any long-term institutional value tied to that person’s incarceration.
The Rational Alternative: Life Imprisonment
Life imprisonment is the fiscally rational model because it:
• Eliminates decades of appellate litigation
• Removes supermax-only housing requirements
• Reduces medical and staffing intensity
• Stabilizes long-term corrections budgets
• Allows regulated voluntary work programs, restitution, and victim compensation
• Preserves institutional stability
This is why jurors are increasingly choosing life sentences — and why states that abandon executions consistently save millions.
Why Killing the Prisoner Is the Least Rational Option
From a cold financial perspective:
The death penalty destroys future budget stability.
It creates unpredictable legal liabilities.
It inflates annual corrections spending.
And it permanently eliminates any remaining institutional value.
Which raises the real policy question:
Why would a government choose the most expensive, most unstable, and most destructive correctional model available — when a cheaper, safer, and legally cleaner option already exists?
The answer is no longer economics.
It is ideology.
And ideology is finally losing to data.
Florida’s Broken Death Penalty System
Florida remains a microcosm of the challenges and cruelty inherent in capital punishment. In 2025, 19 people were executed in the state alone, contributing to a nationwide total of 47 executions—the highest in 15 years—across Florida, Texas, South Carolina, and Alabama.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) has been at the forefront of advocating for these lives:
- Organizing vigils and protests for every execution
- Coordinating closely with legal teams during critical moments
- Submitting clemency materials and offering legislative testimony
- Hosting educational and public events to raise awareness
- Supporting death row families and victims’ families alike
- Guiding individuals on death row through complex, unforgiving systems
Despite the ongoing struggle, community support has been phenomenal. Hundreds of people signed the Clemency California petition urging Governor Gavin Newsom to commute the death sentences of 565 Californians on death row, while the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously joined in support of clemency. Programs like #HolidayRowWriters, which sends holiday cards to those on California’s death row, ensured that people in prison knew they were not forgotten.
The Human Toll of Capital Punishment
The death penalty brutalizes everyone it touches. Lawyers, spiritual advisors, correctional officers, families of the condemned, and the wider public all bear the psychological and emotional weight of state-sanctioned killing. The process is inherently cruel:
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed all 19 death warrants this year.
- Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commuted Tremane Wood’s sentence one minute before execution.
- Alabama’s Attorney General described a lethal nitrogen gas execution that lasted four minutes as “textbook,” highlighting the cold detachment often displayed in official narratives.
Yet even amid these horrors, change is underway. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, in 2025, more than half of jurors in capital cases opted for life sentences over death. Public support for the death penalty is at a 50-year low, with 52% favoring it, and younger generations increasingly opposing state-sanctioned execution.
A Nationwide Movement Against the Death Penalty Is Rising
Across the United States, a profound shift is underway. Communities are speaking, jurors are choosing life, and public institutions are responding. At Sustainable Action Now, we have witnessed — and helped fuel — one of the most significant national movements against capital punishment in modern history.
The momentum is not theoretical. It is visible in the thousands of actions taken by everyday people, in legislative halls, in prisons, in courtrooms, and in communities determined to replace cruelty with justice. This is the story of that movement — and of the people who are making it real.
Learn more about our nationwide campaign to end the death penalty at https://sustainableactionnow.org/death-penalty/
Clemency California: A Historic Demand for Justice
This year, hundreds of supporters across the country signed the Clemency California petition calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to commute the death sentences of the 565 people currently on California’s death row — the largest death row population in the United States.
This was not merely a symbolic act. It was a national declaration that clemency is no longer a fringe position — it is a mainstream demand rooted in compassion, fiscal responsibility, and justice reform. Every signature amplified the truth that public support for ending state executions now spans the entire country.
The call for clemency reflects a growing understanding that executions are not justice — they are costly, irreversible, and damaging to communities, families, and institutions alike.
San Francisco Takes a Stand
In October, this movement achieved a major institutional milestone.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to formally urge Governor Newsom to commute all California death sentences. This decision followed extensive outreach from Bay Area residents who contacted their representatives through letters, phone calls, and public testimony.
The vote represented far more than local politics — it signaled that major municipalities are now willing to publicly oppose state-sanctioned killing. It was an important step in the broader effort to abolish the death penalty statewide, and it sent a powerful message to elected officials: the public wants reform.
#HolidayRowWriters: Humanity in Action
In November, Sustainable Action Now and our partners relaunched #HolidayRowWriters, our annual holiday card initiative for all 565 people on California’s death row.
More than one hundred supporters responded.
Because of this outpouring of compassion, hundreds of incarcerated individuals were reminded — during one of the loneliest times of the year — that they are not invisible. That their lives still matter. That there are people on the outside who remember them, care about them, and believe they deserve dignity.
In a system designed to isolate and erase, #HolidayRowWriters restores humanity.
47 Executions. 56% of Jurors Choose Life.
This year recorded the highest number of executions in the United States in 15 years.
A total of 47 people were executed in 11 states, with Florida, Texas, South Carolina, and Alabama accounting for the majority.
Yet even in these killing states, the tide is turning.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, when jurors were asked to choose between death and life imprisonment, 56% chose life. That majority — for the first time in decades — reveals a seismic shift in public conscience.
People are no longer willing to participate in executions. They are demanding alternatives. They are rejecting cruelty.
When our allies in these states asked supporters to act, the response was immediate and powerful:
• Vigils were held
• Petitions were signed
• Parole boards were contacted
• Legislators were called
• Community leaders were mobilized
These actions are not abstract — they are reshaping outcomes in real courtrooms, real cases, and real lives.
Why This Matters
The death penalty is not just a moral failure — it is a public policy failure. It drains taxpayer resources, traumatizes families, harms correctional workers, and perpetuates cycles of violence. Life imprisonment offers accountability without irreversible harm — and at a fraction of the cost.
Sustainable Action Now continues to work every day to push forward evidence-based reforms that save money, protect public safety, and uphold human dignity.
We believe a society is judged not by how it punishes — but by how it heals.
The Movement Is Growing — And It Is Working
Across courtrooms, city halls, and communities, the message is clear:
The death penalty is losing public support.
Jurors are choosing life.
Cities are demanding clemency.
People are mobilizing — and they are being heard.
This is not a moment.
This is a movement.
Learn more about how you can take action and be part of the nationwide effort to end the death penalty at:
Why We Continue the Fight
Since its founding in 1988, Death Penalty Focus has remained steadfast in advocating for abolition, joined by allies like Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty and FADP. Together, these organizations coordinate legal advocacy, public education, and grassroots mobilization, demonstrating that persistent action can bend the arc toward justice.
The tide is turning because of dedicated supporters—people who attend vigils, sign petitions, write letters, and educate their communities. Every act of advocacy matters, and every voice adds to the momentum toward a system that prioritizes life, justice, and fiscal responsibility.
The death penalty is not only morally indefensible but also economically unsound. For every dollar spent on executing someone, society could instead invest in rehabilitation, education, or public safety measures that truly reduce crime. By focusing on life imprisonment over executions, we save taxpayers millions, alleviate unnecessary suffering, and build a more humane society.
At Sustainable Action Now, we are proud to work alongside our partners to push every day for these reforms. With continued advocacy, public engagement, and data-driven strategies, we are confident that the United States can end this costly and cruel practice once and for all.
You can continue supporting our mission and learn more about the death penalty’s impact by visiting Sustainable Action Now.
