Capital Punishment is the government's way of legally killing criminals. In our society, there are strict laws against killing people, so why is the government allowed to get away with it and call it lawful? "As an American I wanted to explore... why are we the only first world country that still has capital punishment? Is it because we're too afraid to really look at the system, or is it because we really believe this is the best way to deter future crime asks Jodi Picoult, a famous American author. Capital punishment, or death penalty, is a sentence imposed on criminals of the most despicable crimes. As a person, it is easy to quickly judge and condemn someone for their misdeeds, but the laws that govern this country prohibit murder, yet the leaders of this country break those laws every time they sentence someone to death. Eighteen states have already abolished the death penalty; it's time for others to follow suit and lock up the condemned maximum security prison for the rest of their lives. Since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, 1,231 prisoners have been executed, and each death has cost at least $3.5 million. That's $4.31 billion that could have been spent on improving poor cities where most criminals come from. The cost of capital punishment is so high because of the lengthy process required for the preliminary and actual trials of the criminal, one to judge the defendant's innocence and one for his punishment, both of which usually have double the number of defense lawyers. and the equivalent of prosecutors, and the fact that capital punishment cases generally last 3-5 times longer than a typical murder case according to Richard C. Dieter, the… middle of paper…” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, November 8, 2013. Web. December 9, 2013.• TheHuffingtonPost.com, November 20, 2013. Web. December 9, 2013 • Motluk, Alison. “Execution by injection far from painless.” Jodi." Thoughtjoy. Thoughtjoy, n.d. Web. December 12, 2013.• Reggio, Michael H. “History of the Death Penalty.” PBS. PBS, nd Web. December 10, 2013. • Rogers, Simon. “Death Penalty Statistics in the United States: Which State Executes the Most People?” Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 21 September 2011. Web. 10 December 2013.• "States with and without the death penalty." Death Penalty Information Center. Death Penalty Information Center, n.d. Web. December 12. 2013.