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

Thank you!1. Revenge vs. VengeanceI apologize for using inaccurate language. I didn't know there was a difference between revenge and vengeance. Thank you for informing me. I will be arguing that justice is not the end goal and must unfortunately be sacrificed if the cost to the community is so high.2. Harm to Prison WorkersYou have a good point about how the prison workers will often suffer many of the same traumatic experiences that I have mentioned. However, capital punishment by nature is more extreme and will by nature cause severe psychological damage. You note the extreme suffering of people just working in the prison; death row workers have to deal with this and the crushing guilt of knowing that they killed or helped to kill a fellow human. This is not just something wrong with the prison system; it's an inherent risk in capital punishment. The death penalty (and the whole prison system) are inextricably intertwined. If we are to continue with the death penalty, we must accept the fact that our workers will suffer. We must ask ourselves, is it worth the cost? I certainly don't think so. I'll elaborate on this further below.3. IncapacitationYes, the death penalty is a more effective incapacitator than life without parole. But the difference is so small that this is negligible. From a study by the University of North Carolina: "While the incapacitation argument might have made sense in an era when there were no prisons available for long-term confinement, the empirical evidence suggests that today’s prisons and the widespread availability of long prison terms are just as effective as capital punishment in preventing murderers from repeating their crimes." [1] So I do concede that capital punishment is better for incapacitation, but the difference is so immeasurably small that it's not worth the social programs that have the power to prevent crime, the lives ruined, and the possibility of killing an innocent person. If the death penalty could reduce the chance of recidivism by, say, 50%, then I would be all for it. But, given the high quality of our state penitentiaries across the country, that chance is not high enough to be worth the cost.4. InaccuracyYour argument was perfectly clear; I just read it wrong. I apologize.Your idea for rooting out racism in trials is good, but do you know if there are any tests currently that can successfully detect unconscious bias? You have a valid point, but it seems like that might be a tricky thing to do.5. JusticeAnd finally there's your argument about justice. I agree with you that for some extreme crimes the only just punishment is death. But we must ask ourselves, is justice the end goal? If the pursuit of justice is harming our public workers who keep our communities safe and taking much-needed resources away from things that actually prevent crime, we must sacrifice justice for the common good. Is the pursuit of vengeance more important than a child's future? Is the killing of another human being really worth more than a high schooler's education? Does justice matter more than the well-being and livelihood of the people who seek to create it? (prison workers)I'm only saying that while I support justice for bad people, justice must be sacrificed if the cost to the common good is too high. In this case, it is.Good luck in the next round!Source1. https://www.unc.edu...