Such funding could have also lead to a better system of correcting the criminal problem. The money could have also been used to make correctional institutions better for the inmates confined to them.
Other then the waste of American tax dollars there are several good solid reasons that the death penalty is such a horrendous and appalling method of punishment. The first reason is that is often overlooked by the general public is the stress, strain and trauma that the death penalty places on the family of the convicted. It is very hard for people to come to terms with the fact that someone they love/trust has just committed such and atrocity. It is those individuals who truly understand that two wrongs don't make a right.
Secondly is it real with in our judgment to condemn someone to death. If it isn't right for one person to die (the murder) then why is it right for a committee of peers to decide (court and jury).
Thirdly it must be seen that the death penalty removes the persons humanity plus the chance for rehabilitation. Who to say how many people may have been rehabilitated, and benefited mankind by simply not receiving the death penalty and being executed.
One of the main problems with the death penalty is that there is no set guideline on who or what demands the use of it. It seems that now day that anyone who commits a murder intentional or accidental will have the option of the death penalty placed upon his or her head. .
A second problem in applying the death penalty is that it is brought upon by a council of twelve jurors. The ideal juror is one who can stay truly neutral during the course of the trial. However more and more people relay on their emotions and seem to have already made up their mind on where they stand after only the first hearing. .
In the Susan Smith trial many American were discussed that Smith walked way from the death penalty when she was with out a doubt guilty of murdering her two children.