The death penalty should be abolished at the federal level as it is both morally reprehensible and financially exhausting to the American taxpayer.
According to a 2008 study by the Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, It costs an extra $90,000 per inmate per year to imprison someone sentenced to death. In the past decade significant advances have also been made in DNA analysis that has exonerated many innocent men and women. Similar advances in psychological research have also called into question the credibility of eye witness testimony as supported by the Stanford Journal of Legal Studies.
The risk is far too great and far too costly to the American people. Please consider repealing this arcane practice and bring further justice and modernity into our great legal system.