This election cycle, the death penalty was on the ballot for fellow Californians to vote on. While is seems like a good idea on the surface level to save this as an option for mass murderers, the death penalty is unviable and complicated on many levels.

Pro-death penalty supporters would make the argument that it saves money, however the death penalty actually wastes a lot more money than it saves.

First, those sentenced to the death penalty will usually be on death row for at least twenty years. Many inmates die in death row rather than actually be executed. During those years, the lawyers of those inmates will be filing for many appeals to try and get them out of death row, which wastes a lot of the court’s time and ends up costing more money than just keeping them in life in prison.

Finally, executing innocent people has occurred in the past. Someone in life for prison can eventually be pardoned or paroled if found innocent, which sucks, but at least they’re still alive. An innocent dead man is still a dead man.

The death penalty is outdated and inefficient as the DMV and no place in our criminal justice system.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on November 16, 2016.