The death penalty debate is relatively recent in

Outside of the moral conflict, the issue revolves around political, factual and legal arguments. Death penalty abolitionists argue that capital punishment does not and cannot discourage crime, and that there exists no credible evidence to support otherwise. Since most murders are committed in the heat of passion and/or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, perpetrators give little thought to the potential consequences of their acts. Killers plan to not be caught and thus avoid punishment altogether. Charles Black, in his book Capital Punishment: The Inevitability of Caprice and Mistake, states that ôafter all possible inquiry, including the probing of all possible methods of inquiry, we do not know, and for s

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titution in cases of capital punishment demand ôa lengthy, complex and extremely expensive process of litigation over a period of years in various state and Federal courtsö (6). Post-conviction strategies, involving the deployment of collateral procedural devices with successive hebeas corpus and stay petitions are deliberately designed to slow the execution process (Alfieri 334). This is done primarily to gain additional time in hopes of uncovering fresh evidence for the purpose of securing a new trial or a lesser sentence, and can add yearsù-at huge costsù-to the process. Death penalty proponents argue, however, that the assumption that a cost/benefit analyses is even required in justifying capital punishment is inappropriate. Building on NathansonÆs assertion that capital punishment and self-defense are analogous (15-16), ôthen cost/benefit analyses are appropriate in the latter; and we have found very good reasons to doubt that the cost and benefits of defending oneself from wrongful aggression are relevant to the morality of self-defenseö (Montague 134). In the context of the analogy between capital punishment and self-defense, Montague points out that prominent abolitionist Hugo Adam Bedau has stated that the strength o
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