Capital punishment is the only 100% effective punishment for heinous crimes.  The death penalty saves lives. Period.  By executing convicted murderers you prevent them from murdering again in the future and do, thereby, save innocent life.
    However, the process of imposing capital punishment is not perfect and therefore detracts from the overall deterrent value of the death penalty.  Capital punishment is not a swift and sure penalty that criminals recieve to punish them for their crimes against humanity.  It takes an everage of 10 years for the appeals process to be exhausted before a convicted murderer actually pays for his crime.  This prolonged period of uncertainty detracts fromt he potential fear factor that could be instilled in violent criminal.  Committing a murder in the US today is almost nine times safer than being dfrafted during the Vietnam War.  Only 74 murderers were executed last year in the United States - which is equivalent to a mere 4/10  of 1% of the total number of Americans murdered.  Furthermore, of those actually sentenced to death row, only 0.2% of death row inmates are executed each year.  Numerous safeguards are built into the US Justice System to protect the accused from legal error.  In fact, research has shown that inmates are 6 times more likely to get off death row due to appeals rather than receive their execution, not because they have been proven innocent, but because prosecutors were unable to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were guilty.  Such care is taken to minimize undeserved execution that many guilty criminals never get what they deserve.  Murderers do not fear the death penalty because it is so unlikely that they will actually be convicted of their crime and recieve that level of punishment.  If the punishment were more swift and sure it would provide a more effective detterrnce for criminals (Sharpe).
    Although Life Without Parole is a fairly swift and sure punishment, it holds no real value as a deterrent of future crime.  Some argue that incapacitation deters murderers from murdering again; however, statisics sow taht 10,000 people have been murdered since 1971 by people who have previously murdered.  This is an alarming statistic to all innocent people who live in free society.  Hundreds of people fight for ouor worst human rights violators - to save the live of hardened criminals - but nothing is being done to stengthen parole and probation policies that erroneously free murderers and put innocent lives in danger.

        Of murderers currently on death row:
                9 - 15% have murdered at least once prior to their most recent crime
                67% had a prior felony conviction
                42% had an active criminal record
                14% had 2 or more death sentences but were released on parole
                        or probation
                                 (www.prodeathpenalty.com)

    As proven by these statistics, the human rights of vicitms and innocent citizens who could become future victims, are continually ignored.  Protestors are favoring the rights of the criminals over the rights of their victims (Sharpe).
    However, even if the Life Without Parole system of punishment were strengthened and improved, it still would not serve as a significant deterrent.  Without the threat of a more severe punishment, what is stopping murderers from murdering again even while in jail or after and escape?  They are already in prison for life and if the death penalty were abolished, that would be the worst punishment they have to worry about receiving - so if they get angry at a prison guard or another inmate they are free to eliminate their problem by simply murdering again.  Without the threat of the death penalty hanging over their heads, what do they have to lose?  Once again innocent lives are being put in danger, even within incapacitaion facilities.  Prisoners on death row are 250% more likely to murder whle in prison, therefore the death penalty should be a more immediate punishment sp murderers are never given the oportunity to murrder again.  "Although you will never deter all murderers, the effect of deterrence will rise as the probability of executions rise" (Sharp).  Life is a precious gift - those that violate others and selfishly steal this gift from innocents do not deserve to go on enjoying life.
    Other than the incontrovertible evidence that 0% of murderers that receive the death penalty have murdered again, if is difficult to prove that the death penalty is an actual deterrent for future crime (Bradbury).  However, it would seem taht prisoners on trial prefer Life Without Parole over the death penalty -   99% of all prisoners under sentence of death prefer life in prison.  It is proven through the numerous appeals, pleas for commutation, the use of all means at the accused disposal that prisoners prove they fear the death penalty more than any other punishment (Van de Haag 68 -69).  "That which we fear the most, deters us the most" (Sharp).
 
 

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