The death penalty is a massive, massive waste of resources. Regardless of whether or not you think someone should be killed for killing, that is the truth. There is no bigger waste of legal resources than purusing the death penalty. The problem is that the average Joe Six-Pack thinks that, "well, they get 3 hots and a cot.... why the hell should us taxpayers be paying that kind of money for that??" Which is not only incredibly naive, but just flat-out wrong. The county I work in has been crushed because the county attorney chooses to pursue the DP in almost all Murder 1 cases. And it costs us millions and millions and millions of dollars. So few realize the additional resources this takes up.
As mentioned above, the deterrent argument is a f*cking joke. If anyone honestly thinks that a prospective killer thing "Well, I would do this if I were facing life without parole, but since I'm facing death, I won't".... well, you are a f*cking idiot. There's no way around it. You are a complete and total moron.
The amount of DNA-released people from Death Row should be enough for the simpletons who still support the death penalty to realize what a joke it is, but for some reason it is not. They think it is "justice." Which, of course, it never is. It's revenge. Not that desire for revenge is not understable, but it's not justice.
Sometimes I hear the whole "closure" agument. That is seriously just a bunch of shit. Interview the family of a murder victim. Did the execution bring their family member back? No. I'm sure they thought it would before the execution, because they are looking for anything and everything to make them feel better. But did it honestly make them feel better about it? No. It is the most bullshit argument that is made in support of the death penalty.
To me, that fact that certain states still think that killing someone to show that killing someone is wrong, is morbidly amusing. But at the end of the day, it's all a joke. Regardless of how you feel about capital punishment in principle, it is such a ludicrous waste of taxpayer money that there is no leigitmate reason to pursue it.