By Michael Yang
The death penalty is a topic which has been a subject for debate for a long time. Although its proponents argue that it deters crime, not only does it not do this, it is also both inhumane and more expensive than alternatives, such as life in prison without parole.
The death penalty, is extremely expensive; it is a long process which lasts many years and involves many appeals. Because of this, it is often much more expensive than life in prison without parole. This money could be better spent on law enforcement and prevention, rather than punishment, especially when the punishment is considered inhumane and has been abolished in a majority of developed nations. Even among developed countries which allow the death penalty, the US executes more people per capita than almost any other nation.
In addition, statistics gathered from states in the US which support and do not support the death penalty shows that the death penalty does not correlate with a decrease in crime. States such as Texas, who execute many more people per capita than others, do not necessarily have lower crime rates than those who execute fewer, or who have abolished the death penalty entirely.
The death penalty is inhumane and expensive in addition to providing almost no benefit. It should be abolished not only for these practical reasons, but also because of the risk of inadvertently executing an innocent person.
