Resolved: The United States should Discontinue the Use of Capital Punishment

Thanks for the incredibly quick response! I will Before I start rebutting Con's points, I would like to point out that one of the main mistakes Pro makes is that the death penalty is only trying to deter people from committing crimes, because the state could kill them for it. This is not true. Yes, it is one of the reasons, but the others are retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. According to Con's statistics, (which I am not arguing) the cost of the death penalty is not cost effective. I have to concede to this point. There is really no way of getting around it. As I stated earlier, deterring potential violent criminals from committing crimes is not the only purpose of the death penalty. I'm aware that it does not provide rehabilitation, but in the cases of serial killers, serial rapists, and terrorists, rehabilitation is a dangerous option for those trying to rehabilitate them, especially if the criminal is insane. (schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, etc) basically, rehabilitation in the case of the kinds of criminals that get put on death row is a dangerous thing that could lead to more violence then one execution. That being said, the death penalty does very well at the last two, Retribution and incapacitation. In some of the cases on death row, the offender killed or did incredible damage to more then one person, such as serial killers or terrorists, to let them live would be unjust after all the pain and death they caused. Killing them is the only just way to punish their actions. The worst deeds imaginable should be punished by the worst punishment imaginable. It also succeeds very well at incapacitation, for obvious reasons. The only debate on that point is wether or not it is better at it then incarceration. I say it is, because however uncommon, criminals do escape from prison, such as the recent-ish case of El Chapo. With the death penalty, that doesn't happen. According to Michael Osofsky's study, most prison employees who perform the executions do not suffer from depression or PTSD. The ones described by Pro are the exception, not the norm. The easiest solution to this is, if you don't want to do what the job offers, don't take it. Those tragic examples that Pro listed is to educate potential employees about the things they will have to do, instead of throwing it upon them, not banning the death penalty. Yes, inaccuracy is possible in all cases. However, removal of a punishment to replace it with a different one will not benefit anything. For starters, the same amount of people will be wrongly convicted. Yes, it cannot be reversed. However, IF the jury actually bases their votes on wether or not the defendant has been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt will no doubt change this. Yes, innocent people will be executed sometimes. That is terrible, but the risk is in every punishment for that, but the probability that a guilty person will no longer be able to harm people outweighs it. Quite simply, the government is not killing people to show that killing people is wrong, they are executing criminals because it is their duty to mete out justice. Quite frankly, some crimes are so heinous that the only just punishment is death. That is what it is about. Justice, not a warning to others. Sources: https://asc41.com... http://www.theatlantic.com... Logical reasoning. Good luck to my opponent in the next round. You provided some great arguments that were hard to dispute, and are changing my view of the topic.