These states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming."You're not going to find 12 people back-to-back on the same jury that are going to kill somebody when the alternative is throwing away the key."(Harris County District Attorney Johnny Holmes). Alternatives also include ways to help reduce violence and murder; Crime prevention through community policing and gun control, employment opportunities, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, early intervention for abused and mentally handicapped children are all alternatives to capital punishment in that they lower the risk of crime in the first place. .
Another reason that the death penalty should be abolished is because the death penalty has shown no deterrence in violence or murder rates. Willie L. Williams, Chief Police in Los Angeles stated, "I am not convinced that capital punishment, in and of itself, is a deterrent to crime because most people do not think about the death penalty before they commit a violent or capital .
crime." The threat of execution is unlikely to enter the minds of killers acting under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or who are in the grip of fear or rage , or who are panicked while committing .
another crime, people who are mentally ill or who suffer from mental retardation do not fully understand the gravity of their crime. Instead of having these people being executed they should.
give them more help than ususal because of their state. Many people do not think that the death penalty is deterrence to crime and violence, In 1995 by Hart Research poll of police chiefs in the U.S. found that the majority of police chiefs do not believe the death penalty is an effective law enforcement tool.
