Capital punishment is legal in 27 states; three have suspensions on execution placed by governors. An example of the suspensions is when it was first issued in Pennsylvania, "If the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is going to take the irrevocable step of executing a human being, its capital sentencing system must be infallible. Pennsylvania's system is riddled with flaws, making it error prone, expensive, and anything but infallible." (DPIC) The halts put on the death penalty are because of the flaws within capital punishment. What are the defects that cause governors to put suspensions on the death penalty? Do they outweigh the beliefs that founded capital punishment?
The death penalty gets rid of criminals permanently, and it makes sure they won't hurt anyone again. The death penalty may deter crime, but no concrete evidence supports this idea. The death penalty should continue anyway. If data reveals it does not prevent crime, we only would have sacrificed the lives of murderers. While there is a chance that the people executed may be innocent, it is worth taking the risk to save more innocent people than let the murderers live. The death penalty brings justice to those who commit the crime, giving them the same loss they inflicted on someone else.

"Justice is essentially a matter of ensuring that everyone is treated equally. It is unjust when a criminal deliberately and wrongly inflicts greater losses on others than he or she has to bear. If the losses society imposes on criminals are less than those the criminals imposed on their innocent victims, society would be favoring criminals, allowing them to get away with bearing fewer costs than their victims had to bear." (Velasquez, Andre) There are flaws with the death penalty, but this does not mean we should abolish it. These flaws are the reason it should continue so it can improve. If employers are discriminating in hiring workers, it does not mean we rid all people of jobs, and the same goes for the death penalty.

While many defend the death penalty, others oppose it. The opposing side argues that since the death penalty has no profound data to prove that it deters crime, there's no point since we can give criminals a life sentence. Incarceration also gets rid of criminals permanently because the chances of murderers escaping prison are meager (3%). The death penalty takes an unfair risk because of the racial disparities in the criminal justice system. "The odds of a death sentence were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose victim was black." (DPIC) Despite the idea that the death penalty is a cheaper solution to life imprisonment, the death penalty is more expensive, primarily due to legal costs, pre-trial costs, and appeals.
The criminal justice system is unfair based on people's sex, race, and economic class. Most people sentenced to death are poor, "Over 99% of the people on death row are indigent, according to one U.S. Appeals Court judge. Persons of all income levels commit murder, but poor people are the primary recipients of the death penalty." (OKCADP) The death penalty makes an irreversible choice to execute someone. There is no correcting if someone is innocent when they are already executed. The life sentence can find people wrongly imprisoned and release them with compensation. 
After viewing both sides, should the death penalty be used? We should not use the death penalty if there are fairer, cheaper, and more reliable alternatives. I believe that the death penalty should not be used, even for people who commit murder. If there are evident and known flaws within sentencing and the whole criminal justice system, we should use alternatives to make it as fair as possible. The flaws should mean immediate suspension or abolition rather than continuing the death penalty and risking more innocent lives.

Works Cited

"Death Penalty." Amnesty.org, Amnesty International, 2021, www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/. Accessed 18 May 2022.

"The Death Penalty: Questions and Answers." ACLU.org, American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/other/death-penalty-questions-and-answers.

DPIC. "Costs." Deathpenaltyinfo.org, Death Penalty Information Center, deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/costs.

---. "Facts about the Death Penalty." Deathpenaltyinfo.org, Death Penalty Information Center, 12 May 2022, documents.deathpenaltyinfo.org/pdf/FactSheet.pdf.

"Some Facts about the Death Penalty." Okcadp.org, OKCADP, okcadp.org/public-education/educational-resources/facts-about-the-death-penalty/.

Stimson, Charles Cully. "The Death Penalty Is Appropriate." Heritage.org, Heritage Foundation, 20 Dec. 2019, www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/the-death-penalty-appropriate. Accessed 18 May 2022.

Velasquez, Manuel, and Claire Andre. "Capital Punishment: Our Duty or Our Doom?" Santa Clara University, www.scu.edu/mcae/publications/iie/v1n3/capital.html.