Across the United States, violent crime is a persistent problem that state governments are constantly trying to contain and even eliminate. When a crime rises to the severity of the death penalty, people will often immediately rally around supporters of capital punishment, believing that the accused should be put to death for killing another person. Currently updated in 2011, 34 states have the death penalty and 16 states have abolished the death penalty. In fact, very few issues are as polarizing as capital punishment. Support for the death penalty transcends all racial, socio-economic and religious lines. Given the right climate and circumstances, anyone can be quick to judge, condemn, and condemn. Aside from the sense of "an eye for an eye" vengeance, people support the death penalty because they believe it deters criminals and is less burdensome on our penal system. However, what they don't realize is that the death penalty has no effect on any of these things. In fact, states without the death penalty have consistently lower crime rates. Likewise, people are not really aware of the real results of the death penalty, nor that life in prison without the possibility of parole has proven to be the most effective and economical route. The death penalty has proven more costly and has failed to deter crime. With the cost of trial and incarceration, the death penalty is significantly more expensive than the cost of life in prison. First, the trials alone in a death penalty case are one of the main reasons why death penalty proceedings are so expensive. For example, a twenty-four year old man, Dennis Alvarez, was convicted... in the middle of an article...... debate over the merits of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime, but there is no doubt that it is a death sentence. a costly and ineffective law. Although the amount of the death penalty versus life in prison can be debated, the fact remains that this punishment is more costly. Additionally, as previously noted, more than half of death sentences are overturned, resulting in a sentence of life in prison. The question then becomes: why are they separated in prison in the first place? Does the decision of a judge and jury make the convicted person more or less dangerous in any way? Why spend this extra money to separate those sentenced to death from those sentenced to life? Is it clearly established that the death sentence is a heavier punishment than life imprisonment? It is clear that there are too many variable and unknown factors for such a polarizing and severe sanction to constitute law...