Opposing Viewpoints #1 The Death Penalty

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/20/death.penalty/index.html

Bill Maers of CNN wrote this article on the inefficiancy of the death penalty economically. According to Maers, states are chosing to execute less and less people solely because of the economical stress it causes on the state. It costs about $130 million a year to keep the death penalty running, and is therefore very unrealistic for most states. He also states that it is an unpopular option, as only 1% of 500 police officers polled agreed with the action. A lot of states are ignoring the verdict given by the courts, possibly due to a moral conflict as Maers implies that the death peanlty is a morally wrong process. Really, he believes that states are intentionally slowing down the execution process and a death penalty is turning into a more expensive form of a "life without parole" because of the moral and economical concerns it imposes on those executing the process.