This country is determined to prove that killing someone in certain circumstances is acceptable, when in reality there can be no justification for taking a person's life. other person. Killing is murder. It's that simple. There have been so many different controversies surrounding this debate that often the issues are obscured by false statistics and biased arguments. The basic fact remains that killing is morally and ethically wrong. This fact does not disappear by simply replacing the term “murder” with “capital punishment.” This act always amounts to taking a life. For these reasons, the death penalty should be abolished. Proponents of capital punishment believe that killing criminals is a moral and ethical way to punish them. They believe it is justified to kill a certain criminal, when in reality this justification is nothing more than revenge. They also believe that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on crime, although no conclusive studies support this view (Bedau). Most of those on death row belong to minority groups who tend to be poor. The fact that they are on death row can be directly explained by their marginal economic status. These alleged criminals receive inadequate legal representation for the serious crimes they are accused of, simply because they cannot afford expensive defense attorneys (the death penalty). In virtually all indigent defendant cases, underpaid and less experienced public defenders are appointed by the court to represent the defendant. Funds for investigations are generally limited or non-existent. This is one of the reasons why minorities are overrepresented on death row. More affluent white advocates...... middle of paper ...... clearly support the argument against capital punishment. Nothing can justify the taking of a life, regardless of the transgression. In taking this life, we, as a society, have chosen to become as monstrous as those whose heinous crimes we abhor. Works Cited ACLU Backgrounder No. 14: The Death Penalty. ACLU http://www.aclu.org/library/DeathPenalty.pdf 04/26/00Bedau, Hugo A. The Case Against the Death Penalty. Ethics Updates.http://ethics.acusd.edu/Bedeau.html#Opinion 04/26/00Issues and controversies: the death penalty. Issues and Controversies in the Record http://www.facts.com/cd/i00015.htm#I00015_b 01/05/00Radelet, Michael L., updated by the Death Penalty Information Center. Botched executions after Furman. Death Penalty Information Center http://www.essential.org/dpic/botched.html 04/27/00