Let me put it this way -- while I affirm that it is important for the government to enforce the rule of law and carry out justice to those who violate those laws, capital punishment simply is not a way to do so morally or practically. A human life should only be taken by means of self-defense. Yet, the death penalty is simply not a valid exercise of self-defense because they occur long after the offense has been committed. The ability the government to infringe on one's inalienable right to life is not only hypocritical in nature, but presents an overreach of power. On that -- what if, say, an executed individual is later found to have been innocent of the crime that landed them in their situation? A person who's serving a life sentence in prison can easily be released, but a life can never be restored.
I would also like to point out to some numbers
regarding the high cost of the death penalty. Interestingly, the federal average cost of defending a trial in a federal death case is $620,932, about eight times that of a federal murder case in which the death penalty is not sought. The state of Kansas concluded that capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-death penalty cases. If we pass this amendment, not only would we be asserting our support for individual rights, but therein would lie the opportunity to reduce part of our budget or invest more funds in finding practical ways to deter criminal activity and penalize offenders.
