There are only two sides to the death penalty argument, someone is either against or for it.
Some people believe in an eye for an eye, if a person is to kill someone then the life of the person who committed the crime is to be taken, for the victims love ones that can sometimes be closure, but not always.
Others have a more religious and moral problem with the death penalty, they believe that taking a life is wrong no matter what the circumstances.
What a lot of people do not understand is that is can sometimes cost more for a lethal injection then to incarcerate them for life.
What causes this is all of the appeals, additional procedures and legal problems that can sometimes drag it out.
Many prisoners are on death row sometimes for fifteen or more years.
Some can also argue that the death penalty is hypocritical.
How can the courts send the message that killing people is wrong if they kill the person who committed the crime.
Another problem with the death penalty is that the punishment is too easy for the prisoner.
Many feel that life in prison is a better deterrent since the suffering will last longer rather then ending it sooner.
Lastly, there is always the horrible possibility of someone who is innocent being put to death.
The courts do not always get it right and after the lethal injection is over there is no second chance.
On the other hand the most fundamental part of the justice system is that the punishment should fit the crime, if someone takes a life then it only seems far that their life is taken in return.
Also keeping someone locked up for life gives them the opportunity to kill again.
They can be paroled, escape, or kill another prisoner who is there for a less serious crime, removing them from the system earlier is best for society.
Also the death penalty provides another deterrent to those who are serving life in prison.
Reducing that chance that they will start killing again fearing death as the only thing the justice system can do to them.
The death penalty has just as many pros as cons, and oddly enough a lot of the pros can be turned into cons as well and visa-verse.
Not only that, technology has emerged so much in the past years that some of the strongest cons have become less valuable.
The argument of error and someone being put to death who didn't commit the crime has a lesser chance of happening now-a-days with the advanced processing of DNA.
In my opinion the death penalty should be allowed, those who take someones life are most likely afraid of dieing as well, and those that are not need to be removed from mainstream society so they can not kill again, keeping them around will only enable them to continue.
Having a penalty like the death penalty is the only true effective deterrent.