The document discusses several arguments against capital punishment, including that it does not effectively deter crime, it makes the state murderers and convicts victims, and it is a waste of human life. It argues that we must reform our justice system and abolish barbaric practices like the death penalty. The document also notes that some death row inmates have been exonerated, calling into question how many executed individuals may have been innocent. It concludes that money fuels the system of capital punishment despite life imprisonment being less costly.

1. Capital punishment, a crime deterrent or a waste of human life, according to criminologists the death penalty does not affect homicide rates (Death Penalty Info Center 3). So why do we keep the penalty in place when we have done away with other medieval punishments. Capital punishment does not stop crime in America in a logical fashion; it turns the state into murderers and the convicts into victims. The death penalty is a waste of human life and is a disgrace to civilized society. To some capital punishment is just, but when the facts are laid out we can discern from the truth from the fancy.<br />This issue of removing the death penalty has affected law makers for decades. Capital punishment is intended to be the severest penalty that can be granted. Punishment may have been the case when this country was founded but to progress our country we must instead focus on rehabilitation. What gives us the right to say who gets to live and die; that process should be left to nature. In the process of bettering our country we have to let go of barbaric practices and civilize our justice system. The people as a whole need to realize that the killing of another is wrong and in turn have capital punishment removed from our judicial system.<br />When Capote, an established author, showed the human side to Perry Smith he connected the readers to a killer. “It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front” (Capote XXX). Showing how easy it is to become a killer should make the reader think about his or her life. The judicial system cannot base the actions of a person solely on the accused party. Criminals are created not born. We cannot disillusion ourselves that the criminal becomes inhuman once the crimes are committed. It is very easy to believe that a criminal rotten to the core and deserving of the death penalty. Just step into that person’s shoes if you will, and imagine the life they have had to live and gaze with open eyes at the limited opportunities the criminal had. Like Wayne Dyer once said, “Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.”<br />Percentage, it is impossible to know with one-hundred-percent accuracy that the man on trial is guilty. Though he may be ruled guilty he may in fact be innocent. Human error is not taken into consideration when judging the case of a tried man. Though evidence may be handy, and the defense weak, one simply cannot know what actually happened if one was not there. That is shown by the shocking amount of death row exonerations, “Since 1973, over 130 people have been released from death row.” (Death Penalty Info Center 2). Compare that to the staggering one thousand executions that have taken place since 1976 and one begins to wonder how many of those executed were in fact innocent. If capital punishment were removed it would allow these “criminals” a chance to plea their cause and in the event they are exonerated a life would have been saved.<br />Money, the source of corruption and the fuel of the world, is a driving factor in capital punishment. While many Americans believe it to be cheaper to just kill the criminal, it actually costs more than life imprisonment.<br />