Is the death sentence in the US justified?

Many would argue that they would feel safer in our society knowing that there were fewer murderers. But is it true that countries with capital punishment are safer than countries without. The United States, a user of the death penalty has a higher crime rate than us. The death penalty is not an effective deterrent, people murder regardless of punishment.

The death penalty would cost the tax payer more compared to jail for twenty years. Financially it would cost more to execute murderers than to imprison them.

Executing murderers may resolve overcrowding problems though as a result of it costing more, reduced funds would be available to alleviate the overcrowding problem.

The murder rate in the US is high despite there being a death penalty.

Some may argue that murderers are given a life of luxury: provided with food, accommodation and entertainment. But what is the purpose of a prison sentence? Is it to make murderers suffer? Or is it to rehabilitate them? Some would argue that prisoners should be punished for what they did, though surely this will make them more likely to reoffend on release? But on the other hand some may argue that the purpose of putting someone in jail is to prepare them to function well in society after their release.

Europe is a part of the world where human rights are championed. In the United States it has been found that it costs fifty per cent more to execute that to keep someone in jail. The death penalty is not an effective deterrent otherwise we would expect to see a smaller murder rate in the US than neighbouring US states which do not use the death penalty. The purpose of jail is to rehabilitate the prisoner, to prepare them for society. By murdering we are robbing this person of the chance of rehabilitation and redemption. After taking all the points into consideration it is clear that the reintroducing the death penalty is unwise.