Ever since the very first people started living on earth, a punishment has been in effect for those who commit serious crimes that end with the death of the criminal. In our modern day society, we refer to this as capital punishment which is most commonly known as the death penalty. Even though it is a legal way of punishment that the government approves of, there are many other citizens that do not agree with the idea of capital punishment. The death penalty is wrong and should be banned all across the United States because it cost way too much money and violates the inmates right to live.

One of the big reasons why the death penalty should be abolished is from the huge amounts of money it takes to put an inmate on death row. According to Amnesty International, the average cost to put an inmate on death row is forty-eight percent more than the average cost for the case to end with life imprisonment. In Maryland, it cost three times more for a death penalty case than it does for a non-death penalty case, which means that a death penalty case cost about three million dollars for one person. From both of the cost in these states, it would make sense just to put the inmate on a non-death penalty case because it saves the government millions upon millions of dollars which could go towards more important things such as schools. The excessive cost is one huge negative for everyone, but there’s another huge downside that only affects the individual on death row.

Another factor that makes the death penalty unjust is the way it violates the right for the inmate to live along with other amendments. The death penalty is deemed as an inhumane way for someone to die, which is a violation of the sixth amendment. Also in some cases, the victim cannot afford a proper lawyer and rely on the state to provide them with a form of representation. Unfortunately, theses lawyers are sometimes inexperienced or over-worked. The fact that the government uses a legal system that violates amendments that the government made is very ironic. It’s not fair for the victim to be punished in a way the bends the rules that the government has set for themselves to ensure the living rights of all people. When it comes to capital punishment, there are some pros for it, but the cons over-weigh the amount of pros.

As with anything, the death penalty has its pros and cons. One pro for the death penalty is that it gives people a huge consequence for committing a capital crime. This is true, but its not going to always keep people from committing a capital crime. Also the person can also consider all the consequences of  life in prison if they do commit a capital crime which can have the same effect as thinking about the death penalty. Another pro to the death penalty is that it is deemed as constitutional by the government since death penalty sentencing has been made available all throughout history. This is wrong because the death penalty is also deemed as immoral by many others because if we use “eye for an eye” killing as a form of punishment, it leads to an endless cycle of violence since killing the person who did the crime will not undo the crime that has taken place.

Having capital punishment have more cons than pros, it’s only logical that it is not the right way to deal out justice. The death penalty cost too much for the government and violates several rights of the individual put on trial. Unfortunately, death sentences have been used throughout history for proper occasions and sometimes for those who are innocent too. It would only be best for the government and the rest of society in the United States if we abolished capital punishment all together and used a more efficient way to make sure that justice has been carried out for the better of all people.