in los angeles ramon galindo r t. so these numbers beg the question does it make sense to keep the death penalty love it or hate it california is a state with some of the worst financial problems in the country and it seems a little odd to be spending so much on something that voters may want but it's literally bankrupting them and most states are struggling right now so in the places where capital punishment is legal does that actually deter crime so much that it's economically viable to continue to keep it around also help dig a little deeper here i want to bring in michael rupert the c.e.o. of collapse network in sebastopol california. and then michael i want to reiterate really quick for the viewers some of the numbers here since one thousand nine hundred eight there have been thirteen executions in the state of california each of those prisoners have cost the state three hundred million dollars since two thousand and six there have been virago executions and a death penalty prosecutions cost up to twenty times as