system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why is it more expensive to execute someone than to simply put him/her in prison for life?
gpt
The reason its more expensive to execute the person is not the actual cost of the execution, which is very inexpensive. The actual cost is the legal fees, which can be millions of dollars. 

After some states killed several dozen innocent people, the laws started requiring them to make absolutely sure that the person was guilty, and in some states a death sentence has an AUTOMATIC appeal filed in the name of the accused killer, just because of the huge chance that they might be innocent. 

Its turned out that a single state killed loads of innocent people when they actually knew completely that the person was innocent. The prosecutors actually hid evidence that proved they were innocent. So from now on, they are required to give the accused killers a fair chance to prove themselves innocent. 

The laws vary, but the costs in additional lawyers and other professionals is extremely high. Even at $60,000 a year or more to house a prisoner, the cost of a death sentence can easily exceed the cost of housing a prisoner for 20 or 30 years. 

So the cost is not actually due to the execution itself.