Say Goodbye to the Death Penalty!

It is nice and a little surprising to see that my home state of New Jersey has abolished the death penalty. Largely a symbolic act (since no one has been executed in this state since 1963), it will hopefully pave the way for other more angry states to do the same.

I could not fathom how I would react if someone murdered a member of my family, so I choose to look at the big picture when I made my decision to be against the death penalty. In my opinion, it is for the benefit of everyone.

Many arguments for and against capital punishment exist, but here are some arguments that I learned that helped me decide:

• Cost - Each state pays far more in court costs to execute someone then it would cost to impose a life-sentence.
• Lack of Deterrence - No studies have shown that the death penalty deters violent crime. In fact, states with the death penalty have a higher murder rate than those without, which shows that the threat of death does not deter people who have the capacity to commit willful murder.
• Racism - Black criminals are 82% more likely to be sentenced to death for the same crime as a white criminal.
• Accuracy of Convictions - How many innocent people have been sentenced to death? We’ll never know, but death is something that can never be undone. Each year, there are hundreds of people released from prison because they were found to be falsely accused.

You can find the detail behind these (including the facts behind them) at this website.