General Inneffectiveness

     Possibly the greatest issue with the death penalty is that it is not effective or efficient in deterring violent crimes.  States which have abolished the death penalty have significantly lower murder rates than those which still carry out executions.  People may complain that this is mainly due to the difference in demographics between northern and southern states, but even in neighboring states one using the death penalty and one not, the murder rates are higher in the state using capital punishment.  This is probably due to the fact that murderers care far less what their punishment is, they are murdering someone and know that whether they go to jail for life or are put on death row, they do not have anything else left to do with their life.  Also in Canada, ever since the death penalty was abolished, murder and violent crime rates have dropped consistently.

   Even in neighboring states, the murder rate in death penalty states is significantly higher.