Add Resources and Apply Them Systemically: Governments' Responsibilities Under the Revised ABA Capital Defense Representation Guidelines

The death penalty is expensive. For many reasons-including the reality that if the prosecution insists on the death penalty there is essentially no chance of a guilty plea, and the fact that the bifurcation between guilt and penalty that uniquely characterizes capital cases imposes double costs throughout the process of investigation, trial, and appeals -a state's decision to have a criminal justice system in which death is available as a sanction necessarily entails substantially higher costs than the contrary decision does.