Even though many may feel it an inappropriate argument to equate a human life to the expense incurred by the taxpayer to keep that person alive, we have probably all heard someone proclaim in favor of executions that they “do not know why we should have to pay to keep a killer alive!” A compelling argument to some, a total missing of the point to others. Either way, those who rely on this argument are often surprised to find out that it actually costs more (a lot more) to execute someone than to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives. And, it is a point that may have an impact on the death penalty argument from a government point of view, as well. Much to the surprise of many who, logically, would assume that shortening someone's life should be cheaper than paying for it until natural expiration, it turns out that it is actually cheaper to imprison someone for life than to execute them. In fact, it is almost 10 times cheaper!