The death penalty is ridiculous, in my opinion. The money and resources it takes to run the trial for a death penalty case can easily amount to the amount of money it would take for a life-long incarceration. After all the appeals, lawyers, judges, jury, it quickly adds up. Not to mention that the murder in the US hasn't changed all that dramatically since the reinstatement of the death penalty. One who does take the time for pre-meditated murder is probably not the type of person who stops and views the consequences his actions might incur. And for non pre-meditated murder, described nicely as "in the moment" murder, you are so in the zone of killing this person that you don't stop in mid-stab to think "Oh man, if I do this, I'll get the death penalty." The human Psychy just doesn't work that way. Not to mention, other European countries WITHOUT the death penalty, have a LOWER MURDER RATE than the US, who does have the death penalty.