The United States and States Therein Should Discontinue the Use of Capital Punishment

CostContrary to what you might expect, the death penalty costs much more than its alternative, life imprisonment without possibility of release or parole. A 2015 Seattle University study showed that Washington aggravated first-degree murder cases in which the death penalty was sought cost an average of $1 million more than cases in which it was not. [1] A California study showed that the death penalty has cost the state $4 billion over the past 20 years. [2] Across the nation, the death penalty has cost us $1.6 billion in the time period between 1982 and 1997. [3] In federal trials, death penalty cases cost 8 times more to defend than similar cases in which the death penalty is not sought. [4][5]This is not only a large economic and budgetary strain on communities. It also diverts money from programs that are more effective in terms of crime prevention, such as early childhood education, high school dropout prevention, mental health services, and drug and alcohol treatment services. We are doing our communities a disservice by taking money that could be used to create healthier societies and using it instead to execute people. [6]Finally there is the fact that a person who commits a crime punishable by death in a richer area is more likely to be executed due to abundance of funds than one in a poorer area. As the Seattle Times editorial board puts it, "It’s an arbitrary version of justice by geography. " (. http://www.seattletimes.com...)2. IneffectivenessProponents of the death penalty often talk about the death penalty as a deterrent, saying murder rates would skyrocket if capital punishment were to be abolished. This is not accurate. In fact, murder rates in death penalty states have been consistently higher than those in non-death penalty states. [7][8] This is not necessarily to suggest that the death penalty causes crime, but rather that it has absolutely no effect on crime rates. In addition, 87% of expert criminologists agree that the abolition of the death penalty would not change murder rates in any significant manner. [9]3. Psychological DamageAnother factor we must consider when discussing the continuation of capital punishment is the significant harm it inflicts on prison workers. According to Equal Justice USA, "Corrections officials, haunted by the experience of putting people to death, have committed suicide, turned to alcohol, or suffered mental and physical health problems. " [10] One prison warden, Ron McAndrew, would wake up each night to see vivid hallucinations of executed inmates sitting at the foot of his bed, and reports of PTSD in executioners and other workers are widespread. [11] McAndrew speaks out against the death penalty: " I saw staff traumatized by the duties they were asked to perform. Officers who had never even met the condemned fought tears, cowering in corners so as not to be seen. Some of my colleagues turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of knowing that a man had died by their hands. " [12] In other words, for every person we kill, we are ruining many innocent lives along with it. Is that justice?4. InaccuracyAs with any punishment, there are bound to be circumstances in which, for a variety of reasons, the justice system gets it wrong. The same goes for capital punishment. There have been many cases in which people have been exonerated after spending years of their lives on death row, and some in which innocent people have been convicted. [13] The death penalty, however, is set apart from other punishments because it cannot be reversed once carried out. If someone is wrongfully imprisoned, you can release them, give them a compensation for their time, and send them on their way. The death penalty, obviously, is irreversible, and as long as there is any possibility of mistakenly killing an innocent person, the death penalty should not be continued.5. HypocrisyFinally, there is the simple issue of government hypocrisy. A classic question that reveals this is, "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong? " It's simply not an ethical thing to do in a modern society such as this. A government should strive to set an example rather than sinking to the level of murderers; it should exemplify instead the idea that two wrongs never make a right. Over to Con for his arguments! :)Sources1. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...2. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...3. . http://www.nber.org...4. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...5. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...6. . http://www.ncadp.org...7. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...8. [Full Article] . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...9. . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...10. . http://ejusa.org...11. . http://www.ncadp.org...12. . http://www.ncadp.org...