I don't know JLM. A quick google shows horrendously high costs to kill someone. I just grabbed this link because I used to take quite an interest in the psychology of what it did for it's victims, and what wardens of prisons thought...The money saved by terminating these three "citizens" (after they've been convicted of course) might go a long way towards rehabilitating the girls. (I doubt if they will be able to step out into mainstream society this week)
anyhow, for what it's worth:
California
Assessment of Costs by Judge Arthur Alarcon and Prof. Paula Mitchell (2011, updated 2012)
The authors concluded that the cost of the death penalty in California has totaled over $4 billion since 1978:
- $1.94 billion--Pre-Trial and Trial Costs
- $925 million--Automatic Appeals and State Habeas Corpus Petitions
- $775 million--Federal Habeas Corpus Appeals
- $1 billion--Costs of Incarceration