Reasons 1. Executions cost more than life in prison. $2 million per person vs. $500,000 (4x as much!).

Free counsel for defense, for appeals, maximum security on a separate death row wing. 2. The innocent may be wrongly executed. Since the DP was reinstated in 1976, 82 inmates have been freed from Death Row. That's 1 Death Row inmate found to be wrongfully convicted for every 7 executed. 3. Is not a deterrent; crime rates have not gone down. In fact, the murder rate in the US is 6 times that of Britain and 5 times that of Australia. Neither country has the DP. Texas has twice the murder rate of Wisconsin, a state that doesn't have the DP. Texas and Oklahoma have historically executed the most number of DR inmates, yet in 2003 their state murder rates increased, and both have murder rates higher than the national average. 4. Life in prison also guarantees no future crimes. 5. Some religions forbid death penalty: Catholic, Presbyterian, Quaker, Amish, Mennonite. 6. Killing is wrong. 7. Many Death Row inmates were convicted while being defended by court-appointed lawyers who are often the worst-paid and most-inexperienced and least-skillful lawyers. The American Bar Association published guidelines for a good defense in a death penalty case: (a) attorneys with prior experience working a capital case, (b) 2 attorneys, 1 investigator, 1 mitigation specialist, and (c) fully funded to pay for travel, private eyes, evidence testing and other things needed to investigate the case. Yet no state meets these standards. And few states pay their state-appointed lawyers well enough to retain competent, effective lawyers. 8. Violates international human rights laws. 9. No longer practiced in most sophisticated societies. 10. Promotes killing as an OK solution to a difficult problem. 11.Death sentences are handed down arbitrarily, not in a fair manner. Serial killers such as the infamous Gary Ridgway in Seattle who admitted killing 48 prostitutes and runaways got life in prison. An "angel of death" nurse in NJ who admitted killing 17 people got life. Meanwhile, mentally ill and impoverished murderers who could not afford good lawyers and did not warrant much media attention were given the death penalty. In Alabama, David Hocker was executed after a one-day trial. His mental illness was not sufficiently described to the jury. Alabama also executed a 74-year-old man (James Hubbard) who had been on DR for 27 years and was beset by medical problems which would have probably soon caused his death by natural means: cancer, high blood pressure and the early stages of Alzheimers. In Texas, a man with schizophrenia was executed (Kelsey Patterson) even after the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended clemency after learning of his time spent in mental hospitals and his unintelligible rambling. 12. Race plays a role in determining who lives and who dies. The race of the victim and the race of the defendant in capital cases are major factors in determining who is sentenced to die in this country. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office concluded that "in 82 percent

of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks." More clear short-to-the-point reasons 1. Financial costs to taxpayers of capital punishment is several times that of keeping someone in prison for life. 2. It is barbaric and violates the "cruel and unusual" clause in the Bill of Rights. 3. The endless appeals and required additional procedures clog our court system. 4. We as a society have to move away from the "eye for an eye" revenge mentality if civilization is to advance. 5. It sends the wrong message: why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong. 6. Life in prison is a worse punishment and a more effective deterrent. 7. Other countries (especially in Europe) would have a more favorable image of America. 8. Some jury members are reluctant to convict if it means putting someone to death. 9. The prisoner's family must suffer from seeing their loved one put to death by the state, as well as going through the emotionally-draining appeals process. 10. The possibility exists that innocent men and women may be put to death. Nationally, at least one person is exonerated for every 10 that are executed. 11. Mentally ill patients may be put to death. 12. It creates sympathy for the monstrous perpetrators of the crimes. 13. It often draws top talent laywers who will work for little or no cost due to the publicity of the case and their personal beliefs against the morality of the death penalty, increasing the chances a technicality or a manipulated jury will release a guilt person. 14. It is useless in that it doesn't bring the victim back to life. Quotes 1. "Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders." -Albert Camus, French philosopher 2. An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind. 3. "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." 4. "What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!" Facts 1. In 1958 the10 states that had the fewest murders fewer than two a year per 100,000 population -were New Hampshire Iowa, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Utah, North Dakota and Washington. Four of these 10 states had abolished the death penalty.

The 10 states, which had the most murderers from eight to fourteen killings per100,000 population were Nevada, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Virginia - all of them enforce the death penalty. The fact is that fear of the death penalty has never served to reduce the crime rate. 2. New Jersey Policy Perspectives report concluded that the state's death penalty has cost taxpayers $253 million since 1983. 3. All told, 71% of the worlds nations have abolished the death penalty in law or practice; only 58 of 197 retain it. 5 Methods of Capital Punishment 1. Hanging 2. Firing squad 3. Electrocuting 4. Gas chamber 5. Lethal injection