"But, they won't do simple research to understand the cost of executing someone far outpaces the cost to keep them in prison for life." High costs of capital p

"But, they won't do simple research to understand the cost of executing someone far outpaces the cost to keep them in prison for life." High costs of capital penalty are a deliberate choice. There is nothing intrinsic about executions that makes them expensive. Keeping that person behind the bars for decades while all sorts of appeals are pending is the expensive part. The British abolished their death penalty in 1965. Prior to that, the norm was "three clear Sundays" from the trial (later, from one short appeal) to the execution. Of all the arguments against the death penalty in Old Blighty, cost just didn't play a role. It wasn't costly to hold someone in the condemned cell for a month, then hang them using a two-member team (usually Pierrepoint and his assistant).