Though punishments were often cruel and torturous they were used to pass judgment on the persecuted for crimes such as rape, murder, or adultery. Though punishments like the iron maiden   have become archaic, the most controversial- The Death Penalty-remains in society today. In the United States today there are more than 4 types of different execution for inmates: lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, electrocution, and the use of a gas chamber (Death Penalty Information Center). It has been hotly debated whether or not the death penalty (or as some call: capital punishment) is morally right. With recent research and background, I believe that the death penalty is morally wrong, financially limiting, and unconstitutional.

The execution of a person in today’s society has met resistance in the court system and has even escalated to being cases in the US Supreme Court. In Furman v. Georgia the Supreme Court held that the decree and carrying out of the death penalty in these cases is considered cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology). This court case was a gate way to other court cases like Jackson v. Georgia, and Branch v. Texas. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney in Orange County made an intriguing decision in 2014 when he stated that California’s death penalty is dysfunctional and has no meaning, that the process to decide who will be executed is determined by factors like who got their appeal process exhausted first (Shafer).

In Texas, death penalty cases cost the taxpayers of are great country an average of $2.3 million, almost three times the cost of housing an inmate in a single cell at maximum security level prison for 40 years. The Death penalty cases are much more expensive than other criminal cases and cost more than imprisonment for life with no possibility of parole. In California, capital trials are six times costlier than other murder trials. A study in Kansas indicated that a capital trial costs $116,700 more than an ordinary murder trial. Complex pre-trial motions, lengthy jury selections, and expenses for expert witnesses are all likely to add to the costs in death penalty cases. The irreversibility of the death sentence requires courts to follow heightened due process in the preparation and course of the trial. The separate sentencing phase of the trial can take even longer than the guilt or innocence phase of the trial. And defendants are much more likely to insist on a trial when they are facing a possible death sentence. After conviction, there are constitutionally mandated appeals which involve both prosecution and defense costs. Most of these costs occur in every case for which capital punishment is sought, regardless of the outcome. Thus, the true cost of the death penalty includes all the added expenses of the "unsuccessful" trials in which the death penalty is sought but not achieved. Moreover, if a defendant is convicted but not given the death sentence, the state will still include the costs of life imprisonment, in addition to the increased trial expenses.

Death row for convicts is a very traumatic experience. Due to new research there is a variety of “illness” parse that can occur due to being on death row. The Death Row Phenomenon and the Death Row Syndrome have been studied and used in the case of abolishment of using the death penalty. The Death Row phenomenon is able to the effects of the conditions of death row, this includes the exposure to long periods of solitary confinement and the anxiety that inmates experience while waiting for day to die. Inmates on death row in the US will spend at least 10 years awaiting execution, with some waiting over 20 years. “A considerable number of the prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide; while those who stood the ordeal better were not generally reformed, and in most cases did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent service to the community (Tamony)”.

Still, people will agree with using the death penalty. Some will say it’s a matter of getting even; others would go as far and say that the cost of feeding and housing an inmate for the rest of his or her life is more expensive than sticking a needle in him or her just once and it’s over. Well if we are speaking of the effects of one prisoner than sure that might be the case.

I regret to say that this is not the case. Lethal injection is the most used method in the United States. Lethal injections, typically, are used in sets of three drugs. Sodium thiopental is used to induce unconsciousness, pancuronium bromide (or Pavulon) to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. Ironically this more humane method of execution is very limited due to price. The price of execution drugs had risen to 15 times higher than it was in 2011, according to The Austin American-Statesman. This is most significant for Texas, a state that continues to carry out the largest number of executions while struggling with a $4.1 billion budget gap. About 5 years ago, it cost the Texas Department of Criminal Justice approximately $83 to execute an inmate condemned to death row by lethal injection, now, that price has risen to nearly $1,300 (Ward). For the states which employ the death penalty, this luxury comes at a high price. In Florida, each execution is costing the state $3.2 million. In financially strapped California, one report estimated that the state could save $90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. The New York Department of Correctional Services estimated that using the death penalty would cost the state of New York about $118 million annually.

I believe that United States should reconsider the idea of abolishing the death penalty in all the states because it would, as research showed, lower the cost on criminal justice budgets. I advocate the end to manufacturing/ selling lethal injection drugs and if the states are stubborn in keeping them allow the Food Drug Administration to test and approve of these drugs before they can be used on inmates. Furthermore, I believe that the United States should restructure the federal and state prison systems to eliminate the process of waiting in solitary confinement.

Works Cited
Death Penalty Information Center. 2016. Document. 5 May 2016.
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Death. n.d. PDF.
Shafer, Scott. Do Long Delays Make California's Death Penalty Unconstitutional? The California Report. 1 September 20215. Article. 5 May 2015.
Tamony, Dr. Karen Harrison and Anouska. Internet Journal of Criminology. 2010. PDF. 5 May 2016.
Ward, Mike. Cost of executions skyrocketing in Texas, other states. 24 Febuary 2012. Article. 27 April 2016.