The application of capital punishment is racist. In cases with white victims, black defendants were four to six times more likely to receive death sentences than white defendants who had similar criminal histories. In the criminal justice system, the life of a white person is worth more than the life of a black person. The mentally retarded are victimized by the death penalty. Since 1989, when the Supreme Court upheld killing of the mentally retarded, at least four such executions have occurred.
Juveniles are subject to the death penalty.
With the death penalty errors are irreversible. Until human judgement becomes infallible, this problem alone is reason enough to abolish the death penalty at the hands of the state more dedicated to vengeance than to truth and justice. Executions do not save money. The death penalty has been imposed most for murders committed during the course of another felony. Aggravating circumstances for murder are defined in the applicable death penalty statute.