Why the death penalty is ineffective and should be banned by the house

-Thank you for such a well written argument. I could already tell that you are a deep thinker and a man that supports humanitarian ideas just like I do. I clearly instructed that a minimum of 1,000 words is required, but you have broken this rule, I will pay no attention to this because you were able to say enough. I am cancelling out that instruction, so don"t worry. Thank you once again for responding back, I respect your opinion. Definition: Zealots and Zealotry: I have noticed that my opponent has been bringing up a conversation about zealots and that most of them are responsible for these executions. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Zealotry is a, "Fanatical and uncompromising pursuit of religious, political, or other ideals; fanaticism." According to other definitions, Zealots could be Jewish activists from history, but I could clearly tell that you are speaking about the former (1). Rebuttals: Now, I am an atheist myself, so I"m unsure of the deal with zealots bringing out these executions, but I will try my best to explain this. According to the Blaze, Texas is a religious state, but it is not in the top ten (as you have mentioned before). Texas does carry out a lot of executions, but keep in mind that it is one of the most violent states in America, and it is not because of the zealots. Texas has a history of gang violence, and due to its large population it will have a high crime rate. But, take a look at Alaska. Alaska is also a pretty populated state, and it is the least religious one (4). Anchorage is ranked above Texas, which means it is the third most violent state (2). You have also been telling me that the most religious/corrupt states carried out a whole lot of executions in 1976. Take a look at California, it wasted $4 billion on executions in 1978 (source mentioned before), and yet it is not the most religious state out there; California still continues to carry out executions, but not as much as Texas; it has carried out much more executions than Texas during the late 70s. Allow me to explain further. The South is the most violent territory in the states, and according to the FBI crime statistics they do not see that it is because of religion. [1]: The first reason the South might be more violent than any other territory in the U.S. is because of their legacy of violence. http://www.businessinsider.com... [2]: The second reason is the South is a place of rising poverty. http://www.businessinsider.com... [3]: The third reason and this has been scientifically proved that the South is a very hot territory. http://www.businessinsider.com... Lastly, you have been telling me that with a large population the South will carry out a lot of executions. Well, Texas is the most populated state there is in the South. But why are other states continuously carrying out executions? They are not very populated. Defense of my point: Personally, the problem is not the execution the problem are the people. Tod Burke, a professor of criminology at Radford University has said, "If you look at the philosophy in Southern culture, more likely than not, the people in the South believe in capital punishment, in executions," Burke continued. "They are more likely, again this is all statistically proved, they are more likely to believe in corporal punishment than other parts of the country. They are more likely to believe in military intervention abroad (5)." Q95; [1]: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com... [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org... [3]: http://www.theblaze.com... [4]: http://en.wikipedia.org... [5]: http://www.businessinsider.com...