Resolved: The United States should retain Capital Punishment for murder.

Thank you for accepting this. I'm glad to be debating someone as experienced as you on this issue.=Rebuttal=P1. Deterrence.My Opponent contends that the death penalty is NOT a deterrent. (and about the SPB thing, don't worry about it, it's a very common point for both sides.) I disagree completely and the evidence I'm about to show also disagrees. In 1972, the Supreme Court ordered a Moratorium on the Death Penalty in the United States. That year, there were 18,670 murders. The next year ('73), it had climbed to 19,640 murders, and 20,710 the next ('74). The number of murders went down slightly to 20,510 in '75, still nearly 2000 more than when than 1972. In 1976 the death penalty was reinstated and the number of murders dropped significantly to 18,780. After that, there were few executions, and the number of murders hovered at around 20,000, reaching a high of 24,530 in 1994. Still, very few executions took place, although some did. In response to this gorwing crime rate, the federal government passed the Death Penalty act of 1994[1], making imposition of the Death Penalty much simpler. After that, the death penalty began to be used in earnest, with 56 Executions in '95 (a jump of 25 from the year before.) 45 in '96, 74 in '97, 68 in '98, and a peak of 98 in 1999. How did the number of murders correspond to this? The upward trend that was established before 1994 was swiftly reversed, with the number of murders falling every single year. By 2000 the number of murders had fallen to 15,522 over 9000 less than only 6 years earlier and has remained relatively steady since then, and Capital Punishment has continued to be imposed.[2][3]P2. CostThis has the potential to become a very compelling point, but I have a few problems with the way my Opponent has put it. 1. This is trading justice for money, a clear miscalculation in my opinion. In order for this point to work, he must show life impriosnment to be as good as the death penalty, which I've shown in my case that it is not. 2. The studies he's linked do not explain how the cost was calculated. 3. I contend that California (the only State mentioned in my Opponents studies) is a special case, considering how it has 697 individuals on its death row, but has performed only 13 executions in the past 35 years.[4] 4. The source my Opponent linked is biased, it says "10 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty" on the sidebar and says "Working for alternatives to the death penalty" at the top. In response, I'll link an equally biased source showing that the death penalty is " $1.2 to $3.6 million" cheaper than Life W/o Parole.[5]5. The public pays for the criminal justice system, and prefers the Death Penalty over Life Imprisonment.[6]6. Capital punishment keeps a killer from killing again, as I've shown in my case Clarence Allen was sentenced to Life w/o Parole yet due to his actions 3 people were killed. This is trading public safety for money.7. This cost analysis ignores the use of the Death Penalty for plea bargaining. According to a report defendants pled guilty to 1st degree murders 10% more in death penalty states than in non-death penalty states[7]. That's 10% more trials to be avoided, saving significant amounts of money.P3. Wrong PersonIn order for this point to be valid, my Opponent must show four cases in which an innocent was executed, because I've shown 3 innocents killed by the actions of a man sentenced to Life w/o Parole. If he cannot show this, than my impacts outweigh his.P4. CruelThis point directly condradicts his 5th point which states that it's not a punishment. How can the Death Penalty be too cruel of a punishment, yet not a punishment at all?Furthermore, this point should not even be considered. As Donald Atwell Zoll, Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University points out: "Capital punishment ought not to be abolished solely because it is...repulsive, if infinitely less repulsive than the acts which invoke it."The Executions liknked in my Opponents case are botched ones, and perhaps I'm just being cold, but I find it extremely hard to find any sympathy for these murderers. They did what they did and ought to be punished for it. After reading about the cases in which a murderer was actually executed (such as Peter Cantu) I simply cannot muster any sympathy for them. Furthermore, it's a matter of safety. A murderer can always strike again if he's not executed, and the evidence points to deterrence so this point is massively outweighed. P5. Not a punishmentIf this were true, than why would the vast majority (96%) of criminals fight their death sentences? I know it seems like life w/o parole is a harsher punishment to us, but since we're both rational people who could never commit the terrible crimes that meet the aggravating circumstances for the Death Penalty, our thoughts on it are invalid. The evidence, sadly, points to the fact that criminals do not want to die. Furthermore, even if Life Imprisonment was a better punishment, it still isn't as safe for the public as the Death Penalty is so this point is also massively outwieghed.P6. HypocriticalI find it very hard to wrap my mind around this point. My Opponent states: "we kill people who kill people to show other people that killing people is wrong" using that logic, we also kidnap people to show that kidnapping is wrong, and the Police should not be allowed to go faster than the speed limit to pull over a traffic violater. Surely my Opponent realizes that the physical similarities between the Death Penalty and murder do not make them anywhere near similar morally. English philosopher John Stuart Mill sums it up nicely by stating: "Does fining a criminal show want of respect for property, or imprisoning him, for personal freedom? Just as unreasonable it is to think that to take the life of a man who has taken that of another is to show want of regard for human life. We show, on the contrary...our regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he who violates that right in another forfeits it for himself and that while no other crime that he can commit deprives him of his right to live, this shall."I thank my Opponent for his excellent response and look forward to our next round. =Sources=1. http://www.justice.gov...2. http://www.disastercenter.com...3. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...4. http://en.wikipedia.org...5. http://www.prodeathpenalty.com...6. http://www.gallup.com...7. http://www.cjlf.org...