Death Penalty

The reason that the death penalty should be abolished is because it is still committing the act of death against a human life. We did away with capital punishment, yet still feel it necessary to kill people in some particularly inhumane ways? It just doesn't make sense! It has even been discovered that some of our methods of killing people aren't the best ways to go about it. We've basically done away with the electric chair and hanging, and in most states the firing squad, however we still cling closely to the gas chamber and lethal injection.

We're basically committing something that was used years ago in the beginning of our existence, where we would punish people on the belief that of Lex Talionis; "an eye for an eye" or "a tooth for a tooth" were the common themes of punishing people who broke certain laws. It seems like we've moved from our barbaric past in some areas, yet why can we not completely separate ourselves by abolishing the death penalty?

Also, what message does it send to the people? 'If you kill someone, you go to jail and will eventually be brought to death for it. If we, the state kill someone via death penalty, nothing happens to us, we don't get punished in any way, regardless of the fact that we took a life just as you took a life'. It's so hypocritical! By doing this, we're no different than the people out there who murder!

Another issue with the death penalty is the cost of everything involved, it goes so much deeper than the average person may ever imagine. First of all, there are all those appeals that each death row inmate is entitled to, which cost time and money. Then there is fact that death row inmates need more supervision and a less stressful environment, so one must house them in "special" quarters away from other inmates. Then there is the cost of extra staff to keep track of them and make sure they don't try to kill themselves or others. Then you have the whole process of killing them, which depending on which method costs money, and often times causes psychological problems towards the people who must administer the methods. So now you have to offer counseling for your employees, or risk losing them altogether. You also have to deal with the last minute pardons and publicity towards your facility - something that could very easily be very positive or very negative. There is special treatment right before the person is put to death - something that the victim never got before they were put to death.

Finally, there is the issue of the inmate and their family as well as the victim's family. What is the inmate repents, asks for forgiveness and the victim's family grants it? In this case, neither party is going to root for the death penalty, but typically 9 times out of 10, that really isn't going to mean much in terms of trying to stop it with going forward. Then there's the