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

You are correct about the death penalty not being only about deterrence. I simply wanted to point out that capital punishment is a notoriously ineffective deterrent, while it is an effective form of retribution and incapacitation. The point of debate is whether or not retribution and incapacitation are necessary or ethical. I would also like to point out that I am not proponing rehabilitation for these criminals; as you point out, it's far too risky. I am arguing for life imprisonment without possibility of release or parole, which is just as good a form of retribution and almost as good at incapacitating dangerous people.1. RetributionMy favorite question to ask about the death penalty is, "What does it actually accomplish? " It doesn't deter crime, it's costly, it causes innocent prison workers severe psychological harm, and it takes away resources from programs that can actually prevent violence. And isn't preventing more violence, not revenge, the goal? Doesn't making our societies much safer benefit the citizens more than spending precious resources to kill people? The point is, why do we feel that we need to kill other human beings when life imprisonment provides an equally severe form of retribution? I understand your thinking as I used to believe this myself. Eventually I realized that the government should never be involved in the taking of a human life if it can be avoided. Instead resources should be used for the betterment of the society as a whole.2. IncapacitationI concede that the death penalty is a better form of incapacitation, but the possibility of a prisoner actually escaping is incredibly low. Is such a small modicum of security really worth the cost in money, lives, and the well-being of workers?3. Harm to WorkersThe article you cite also gives a reason why most workers don't get PTSD. It's because most prison wardens suffer from moral disengagement instead, which prevents them from suffering from PTSD but causes severe damage to their sense of right and wrong. It's a form of denial, making up excuses to justify your actions with your own moral compass. [1][2] The same article also mentions that most workers don't expect that they will have to kill somebody. [3] You say that this could be alleviated by asking workers if they were okay with carrying out the death penalty. The man I mentioned earlier, McAndrew, was asked the same question and said yes, and still suffered from psychological trauma. The fact of the matter is, having to kill someone as part of your job will always have severe psychological and mental health implications, from a pressing sense of guilt and self hatred to moral disengagement to PTSD, depression, and even suicide.4. InaccuracyYou say that whether the defendant is guilty determines the death penalty. This implies that any person that is found guilty of a crime punishable by death will be given the death penalty. This is not so, as mandatory sentencing was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1987. [4] After the defendant is found guilty, the prosecution can decide if it wants to pursue special sentencing (capital punishment) and then the jury will decide if the circumstances are sufficient to merit leniency, and if not, the defendant will be executed. Thus the jury could decide to end a life based off of things such as racial bias. [5][6][7] Racism pervades special sentencing procedures and the jury selection process, which results in disproportionate amount of African-American citizens being put to death. As long as we as a society are unable to fairly and impartially carry out irreversible punishments, we must not allow any further executions to take place. I would again like to thank you for the excellent points you have made and for the great discussion. Sources1. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...2. . http://www.uky.edu...3. . http://www.theatlantic.com...4. . http://www.nytimes.com...5. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...6. . http://www.ncadp.org...7. . http://www.ncadp.org...