cost efficient. This could not be further from the truth. The reality of the situation is that it costs the state more to sentence a man to death and see the execution through than it does to sentence a convict to life in prison without parole. Most states moderately estimate that it costs 1-3 million dollars to prosecute a death penalty case. The reason for the high costs again goes back to the constitutional workings of the justice system. Every death row inmate is automatically granted several appeals, a process that takes years and millions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money for legal fees. Perhaps the most incomprehensible of Dr. van den Haag’s arguments is that most men are capable of murder, and that the only thing keeping society from murderous chaos is the death penalty. It is an almost arrogant assumption to make. He puts too much faith in a method of punishment that has not withstood the test of effectiveness. Even our law enforcement officials, when polled, put the death penalty at the bottom of the list of effective methods for deterring crime. To paraphrase Professor Conrad’s statistics, the actual percentage of murders in our population is so low that it is statistically ridiculous to claim that the reason that you or I haven’t murdered is because we fear the hangman’s noose (202). Most of the population abstain from murder because they believe that it is morally wrong, and therefore have no real intention of committing homicide. Retentionists’ arguments have fallen one by one in the light of conclusive evidence that many choose to ignore or deem invalid. The death penalty has proven to be an outdated method of punishment. It belongs in the past; buried with other shameful things our country has engaged in. ...
