capital punishment should be banned

Thank you for your opening statements. Here are my reasons to go against the death penalty. 1) Cost 2) Innocent or Guilty? 3) Racial Bias 4) Deterrence Which further ado, here's my argument. Cost In Kansas, the cost is a staggering 70% more in cost for a death penalty case than for a non-death penalty case. Also In Kansas, the median of death penalty cases if around $1.26 million while a non-death penalty case has a median cost of $740,000. [1] If the example of Kansas wasn't enough, here are three more steep prices in three other states: Tennessee- Death penalty cases = 48% more in cost [2] Maryland- Death penalty = $3 million for a single case (three times more than other cases) [3] California-" ...the current sytem costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty." [4] The death penalty requires more in cost because of lawyers, higher judges, multiple trials, housing, etc. And even while less than 1,300 prisoners have been executed in the U.S, [5] over 3,000 are still on death row. [6] Why waste so much money on one prisoner? Why not give a life sentence? This proves that it's cheaper, so why not apply it to these death row inmates? Innocent or Guilty? Currently, there are 130 inmates released from death row because of they were proven innocent. [7] Even though they, most likely, lacked sufficient evidence at the time, they were set to be executed. Imagine what would happen if they were killed. And say they were proven innocent, but only after death. You can't bring someone back from the dead, but if they're on a life- or lesser- sentence, they can be released. Racial Bias "In a 1990 report, the non-partisan U.S. General Accounting Office found 'a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty.' The study concluded that a defendant was several times more likely to be sentenced to death if the murder victim was white. This has been confirmed by the findings of many other studies that, holding all other factors constant, the single most reliable predictor of whether someone will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim" [8] Similar studies also found that in Philadelphia 1/3 of African African death row inmates would actually be sentenced to life in prison if they were white. [9] Another study by the University of Maryland said that it was more likely that the prisoner would receive a death sentence of the victim was white rather than black, Hispanic, Asian, or other. [10] So, in other words, if the victim was white than the prisoner would be treated with harsher punishment rather than if the victim was a minority. Deterrence Not only have few studies shown that capital punishment doesn't deter murder, states without the death penalty actually have lower murder rates. [11] In fact, studies show that the percentage difference can differ between 4%-46% per year. The study also states that police officers and children specifically are in more danger in the south, where the most executions occur. [12] In conclusion, the death penalty shouldn't be used as a higher form of punishment. The government should be using life sentences more for death row inmates, as it has less factors than the death penalty, which does more harm than good. Thank you and good bye. Citations [1, 2]http://www.amnestyusa.org... [3]http://www.urban.org... [4]http://www.ccfaj.org... [5]http://www.theguardian.com... [6]http://www.crimemuseum.org... [7]http://www.statisticbrain.com... [8, 9, 10]http://www.amnestyusa.org... [11]http://deathpenalty.org... [12]http://www.deathpenalty.org...