Over the course of the past seven days, one mass murderer was put to death, several more were told that they would be charged in New York City and probably face the same fate if convicted, and one more committed an act so horrendous that he too, will likely be sentenced to death when he goes on trial.

These men – the DC sniper, John Allen Muhammad, several Al-Qaeda members, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan – all are horrible human beings. But do they really deserve to be killed for their actions? And, more importantly, what good does it do to end their lives rather than stick them in prison for the rest of their existence?

Sure, it feels good. With guns in their hands, Muhammad and Hasan alone killed 23 Americans. Let’s kill ‘em and show them what we do to people who attack us, right?

I think not. The death penalty simply is not worth the effort and costs of killing someone.

Let’s take a look at capital punishment worldwide. The death penalty has been universally abolished in Europe, most of South America, even part of Africa. According to Amnesty International, just five countries carry out the overwhelming majority of all executions worldwide, 93%. The United States is number four on that list, behind only the ruthless, totalitarian governments of China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

Well, so what? Who cares what those stuck-up Europeans think anyway – right? There’s a reason we’re the most powerful country in the world.

Well, the death penalty certainly isn’t the reason. First of all, it does not help one bit in the fight against crime. The threat of death simply does not deter murderers in the slightest.

In the 18^th century, when executions were swift, certain, and public, the death penalty may have been an active deterrent. However, today, that is simply not true, as the majority of criminologists agree, maybe because 99% of murderers are not executed.

The death penalty is not the only method that saves other lives by ensuring that murderers can never kill again. The alternative – life imprisonment – is just as effective.

Perhaps the most persuasive argument for life imprisonment (as well as most pertinent today) is the financial one: killing people is expensive. Not only must the delicate three-drug cocktail be administered carefully by a medical professional, but the costs of the legal process necessary to put someone to death are enormous.

While it may be surprising to hear, keeping criminals in a penitentiary for the rest of their lives is not nearly as expensive as arguing for them to be put to death. The largest cost comes from paying lawyers for the extremely long appeals process. Major Hasan will likely be alive for another good decade or two before he is punished for his actions.

Although it may go against our animal instincts for vengeance, in a time when the federal government is $12 trillion in the hole, we cannot afford to continue capital punishment.