It is more expensive to care for a lifer in prison than an execution. Life in custody is hard. If you don't have high blood pressure and diabetes before going to prison, you will in time. Not to mention that half the inmate population in prison and jail are on psyche meds. The medical costs far exceeds appellate attorney costs.
Money should never be an issue in moral decision making.
It is true the police sometimes get it wrong. It is true that sometimes prosecutors successfully litigate innocent people. In Murder cases, especially death penalty Murder cases, the State pays for the absolute best Murder trial defense teams to represent the Defendant.
Countries that patted themselves on the back for abolishing the death penalty and see themselves as some how morally superior for doing so are continuing down the slippery slope by now outlawing life sentences or sentences exceeding say 20 years.
There are serious moral issues that cause conflict in our criminal justice systems. Executing a person who has been convicted of Murder is a serious thing. I would hope there is an eye witness to the Murder, which often there is not. The only witness is the deceased victim. People can change. People can be rehabilitated, but only if they want to. So, if they want to, perhaps they should be given a chance to do so. Victims of crime deserve justice, too. Let us not forget about them. However, at the same time, how does intentionally taking a human life make the world a better place.
I used to be a huge proponent of the death penalty. I did a paper on it back in college. However, recently I have changed my stance on this. I have been a police officer for over 20 years now. I am not as big of proponent as I once was. I carry that "sword" mentioned in Romans 13. It's a heavy burden. Trust me. I pray every morning that my co-workers and I use it with mercy, kindness, and understanding.
I really don't know what the solution is other than it lies in repairing society and a mass paradigm shift. Rather than work so hard on perfecting how we deal with Murderers, why not work on changing hearts and minds so that violence is no longer a viable solution to people? There will always be a few truly evil people that in their core hold no value for human life, have no desire to change, and present a true danger to society. I don't think that applies to most of the people who go through our criminal justice system. I do think that society is at the root of crime.
When society as whole decides to put others first, chooses selfless love over profit, cares for the sick, the hungry, the homeless, we may not have to have this debate anymore. We will always have crime and violence, but we can certainly reduce it to a rarity.
