Just kill them?The United States has a long history of the death penalty. The “first recorded execution took place in Jamestown in 1608” (“Death Penalty in America” 259). Since then, thirty-five states have continued to use the death penalty. Now this can be seen as a normal punishment and many people feel strongly about it, but maybe we should forget what we did in the past and take a second look. The death penalty should not be used in the United States because it is too costly, it affects the poor and minorities more than others, and (even though many people think it is true) the The death penalty does not deter crime. The death penalty is the idea of ​​“an eye for an eye.” If someone commits murder, they should be killed as punishment, but how much are we willing to pay for this way of thinking? An eye for an eye comes at a high price. According to an article in the California Law Review, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California conducted a study to determine how much California spent on the death penalty. The ACLU found that taxpayers spend “$117 million a year executing people currently on death row.” This figure adds up over time to $4 billion more than the state would have spent if these inmates had been sentenced to life without parole” (Colon, 1380). Author Sara Colon also mentions that, given the "current fiscal crisis" in California, "the costs of capital punishment seem forbidden" (Colon, 1380). We could have used this $4 billion for other things like welfare programs, health care or investing this money in colleges for the education of young people. middle of paper......orium panel data. “American Law and Economics Review 5.2 (2003): 344-376. Hurwitz, John and Mark Peffely. “Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America.” » American Journal of Political Science Vol 51.4 (2007): pp. 996-1012. “Does Introduction to Capital Punishment Deter Crime? : in question. » Does capital punishment deter crime? Ed. Romain Espejo. San Diego: Green Haven Press, 2003. At issue. Opposing viewpoints in context. Internet. March 26, 2014.Jost, Kenneth. “Debates on the death penalty”. CQ Researcher November 19, 2010: 965-88. Internet. March 31, 2014.Love, A. David. “The racial bias of the death penalty in the United States.” The Guardian: January 3, 2012. Sankin, Aaron. "California spends more on prisons than colleges, report finds." Huffington Post: September 6, 2012. “The Death Penalty in America: A Cultural and Historical Analysis.” Debates at the Supreme Court (2004): pp. 259-288.