The Arguments

        1.)  The death penalty is costly.

        2.)  The death penalty is racist.

        3.)  The death penalty condemns the innocent to die.

        4.)  The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.
 

                The Answers

        1.)  The death penalty may cost a lot of money, but it is considerably cheaper than life without

            parole.
 
 

Cost of life without parole	Cost of death penalty cases
a.) $34,000 per year for 50 years at 2% annual cost increase plus $75,000 for trials and appeals = $3.01 million	a.) $60,000 per year for 6 years at 2 % annual cost increase plus $1.5 million for  trials and appeals = $1.88 million
b.) Same except 3% annual cost increase  = $4.04 million	b.) Same except for 3% annual cost increase = $1.89 million
c.) Same except 4% annual cost increase = $5.53 million	c.) Same except for 4% annual cost increase  = $1.91 million

            Life without parole cases are between $1.2 million and $3.6 million more expensive than death

        penalty cases (The Death Penalty: Morally Defensable?)
 

    2.)  The death penalty is certainly not racist.  More white people ae put to death each year than

        blacks even though blacks commit more violent crimes per year.  In 1999, there were 452

        murders with a with a white victim and a black murderer.  In the same year there were 154

        murders with a black victim and a white murderer.

            The death penalty is not also based on murder alone.  There are a certain number of

        aggravating factors that fall into the equation.  One of those factors is a murder with a robbery.

        For every murder with a robbery that has a black victim and a white murderer, there are 21
 
        cases where there is a white victim with a black murderer (Skeptism.net).
 

    3.)  The death penalty does not condemn the innocent to die.  Before anyone is executed, there must

        be 12 carefully selected jury members to decide that the defendant is not only guilty without a

        reasonable doubt, but that they also deserve to die.  They are able to be sure beyond a reasonable

        doubt with the breakthroughs in forensic science.  "It is true that death row prisoners have been

        released, but it is not true that they were innocent." (The Death Penalty: Morally Defensable?)
 

    4.)  The death penalty is not a form of cruel and unusual punishment.  Infact, the framers of the

        Constitution supported the death penalty and constructed laws in order to carry it out.  Murderers

        are to protected in today's society.  Committing a murder in the United States today is almost nine

        times safer than being drafted during the Vietnam War. (The Death Penalty: Morally

        Defensable?)