Capital punishment – the death penalty – is an issue that continues to be widely debated among Americans.

Twenty-seven states have capital punishment, and 23 do not. There are many different factors and reasons for keeping or getting rid of the death penalty.

One of the most common arguments for capital punishment is deterrence for crime. If people know that they could die because of the crime, the argument goes, then they won’t do it.

In a survey conducted in 2021 by the Pew Research Center, 63% of Americans believe that the death penalty does not deter people from committing serious crimes, and 35% believe that they do.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), from 1990 to 2019, states without the death penalty have had fewer murders than states with the death penalty. This makes the deterrence argument void because there is a consistency for non-death penalty states to have fewer murders.

Another argument is cost. Many people argue that executions cost less than housing an inmate for life, which is true – but that does not include all expenses. 

Cases, where there is the possibility of a death sentence, have many trials and many lawyers on both sides because someone’s life is on the line. However, in most cases, the person ends up with life in prison, but because the death penalty exists, the cost is highly inflated in trying to avoid it.

Legal costs, pre-trial costs, jury selection, trial, incarceration, and appeals all cost money, and cases with the death penalty require more trials and more expensive ones. States would be saving more money by getting rid of the death penalty because there would not be such a high demand for more trials with more expenses.

One of the main reasons cited by people opposed to capital punishment is that some prisoners are actually innocent, and killing them would not bring justice. 

The 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 78% of Americans believe that there is a risk that someone innocent could be put to death.

The judicial system is not flawless, which is represented by the many exonerations. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 191 innocent people would have been put to death if they were not exonerated of their death penalty sentences. Of those wrongly convicted, 103 were Black, 68 were White, and 17 were Latinx.

According to the center, judicial misconduct is the main reason people were wrongfully sentenced. The most common types are: withholding favorable evidence, improper argument, false evidence, jury discrimination, and improper evidence. Misconduct was a factor in 78.8% of cases with Black defendants, 68.8% with Latino defendants, and 58.2% with White defendants.

Also, it takes Black death-row exonerees an average of 4.3 years longer to be cleared than their White counterparts, which means Black people are more likely to be executed for a crime they did not commit because they have to wait longer to get exonerated.

Humans naturally make mistakes. However, it is easier to get an innocent person out of prison than bringing them back to life.