Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the legal authorization to kill someone as punishment for a crime they have committed. The death penalty is legal in 32 of the 50 states in the United States, and since 1976, the United States has carried out 1,379 executions. For many years, the death penalty has sparked intense controversy. We often wonder whether the death penalty should be maintained or abolished. The death penalty should be abolished because it is unconstitutional, costly, immoral and can kill innocent people wrongly accused. Although the United States Supreme Court has not yet ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, it violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel acts. and unusual punishments, including torture. The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma is a good example of how the death penalty is considered a form of cruel and unusual punishment. When Lockett was injected with an untested mixture of drugs not previously used for lethal injections, he was declared unconscious ten minutes after the execution began. He reportedly writhed, groaned, uttered a few words and also tried to get up from the table 14 minutes after receiving the injection. Although the execution was halted 33 minutes after the execution began, Lockett died of a heart attack 43 minutes after being sedated. An execution by lethal injection typically takes between 5 and 18 minutes to kill the victim. The fact that it took so long for Lockett to die and appeared to cause him immense pain concludes that he was tortured to death, which is unconstitutional. Although it may seem that keeping someone in prison for life would cost more than putting someone to death. penalty, however...... middle of paper ...... state. As of May 6, 2014, there have been 142 exonerations nationwide. Yet with so many innocent people wrongly accused, the death penalty is still used. In conclusion, capital punishment is an unjustifiable act used to punish criminals. The death penalty is not only costly, but it also lowers our morals. Desmond Tutu once said, “Taking a life when it has been lost is revenge, not justice.” » America is supposed to be a country that symbolizes justice and the fact that the government kills people, regardless of the reason, contradicts that. Therefore, the United States should ban capital punishment and convert it to an alternative punishment, such as life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, where the criminal can spend the rest of his life locked in a cell and live with what it did, to become the justifiable country that it is. known as.