Pro Argument

Capital punishment as a feature of organized civil society is at least as old as history. Biblical sanction, especially in the Old Testament, appears at Gen. 9.6, calling for shedding the blood of a murderer. Other verses call for execution on everything from disobeying priests (Deut. 17.12) to mishandling problem livestock (Exod. 21.29). New Testament sanction is somewhat more ambiguous, though Paul tells the Romans that state authorities have God's authority to punish the wicked (Rom. 13.1-5).

The Enlightenment marked the first major interrogation of capital punishment as state policy in the West. In 1764, Cesare Beccaria argued that punishments should fit the crime and that all citizens, not just elite classes, should be able to at least understand the laws governing them before suffering on account of them (17). Voltaire took up that theme in The Sage and the Atheist, criticizing English law and the Inquisition for dis

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ed of crimes against whites were most likely to be executed, and that most likely in the American South. The proportion issue is also important. Even though US Department of Justice has reported that whites comprised about 56% of all executions between 1977 and 1999, with blacks accounting for about 42% and other racial groups accounting for the balance (BJS, 1999), blacks account for 10-12% of the entire US population. Costs and Benefits Opinion is sharply divided on the issue of death-penalty costs. Proponents argue that executions avoid the expense of long-term incarceration, but opponents cite "staggering" costs of long-term capital appeals litigation (Turow 40), which is admitted even by advocates (CDC) and can run about an estimated $5-$7 million for each case (Costanzo 61). Life imprisonment without parole has been said to cost $500,000-$750,000 per inmate. By one estimate, $90 million in tax revenue could be saved every year in California if the death penalty were abolished (Costanzo 61). Human costs are frequently brought into the debate. Modern critics of the practice argue that it coarsens the body politic: Our emotions may cry for vengeance in the wake of a horrible crime, but we know that killing the criminal can lead to a s