Issue of the Week: Death Penalty

1. How much does the death penalty cost?
- The cost is different depending on which state you are in. In some states it is more expensive than in others, but it is pretty expensive no matter what state you are in. In general, it costs more for the death penalty than it does to put someone in jail.  


2.  How many states have banned the death penalty?
- About 139 countries have banned the death penalty, but by 2010, only one country had banned it for every crime. For awhile, only 9 countries had banned it for ordinary crimes.


3. How many people were killed that were actually innocent?
- There is no exact number of innocent people who were put to death. However, I found that over 130 people have been found innocent and released from death row in the last 35 years. 



http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777460.html