Original sentence: However, supporters and opponents of the various statistical studies, on both sides of the issue, argue that correlation does not equal causation.The opponents of the death penalty argue that the burden of proof is on the retentionists to prove that the death penalty works better than life imprisonment, and that, given the lack of statistical evidence, the death penalty ought to be abolished.The proponents argue that, given that existence of a deterrent effect of punishment is already accepted, the burden of proof is on the abolitionists to prove that the life imprisonment works equally well as a deterrent, and given the lack of statistical evidence that life imprisonment works as equal deterrent, the death penalty ought to be retained.This can be considered is the result of a sampling problem, where those who do refrain from committing crimes due to deterrent effect of the death penalty or incarceration automatically rule themselves out from the statistics
Edited sentence: Given the lack of statistical evidence that life imprisonment works as equal deterrent, the death penalty ought to be retained.Given the lack of statistical evidence, therefore, the death penalty ought to be abolished.However, the statistics arguments are misleading because statistics show that correlation does not equal causation and moreover, statistics do not show that life imprisonment or any other individual form of punishment deter murder.In fact, this is the result of a sampling problem, where those who do refrain from committing crimes due to deterrent effect of the death penalty or incarceration automatically rule themselves out from the statistics.The opponents of the death penalty argue that the burden of proof is on the retentionists to prove that the death penalty works better than life imprisonment.The proponents argue that, given that existence of a deterrent effect of punishment is already accepted, the burden of proof is on the abolitionists to prove that the life imprisonment works equally well as a deterrent