The Supreme Court decided to suspend the death penalty from June 1972 to 1976. After 4 years of suspension of the death penalty throughout the country, the Court reinstated the death penalty in the states. The death penalty includes 34 states that have proceeded to establish the new death penalty. States like Florida, Georgia, and Texas were instrumental in reinstating the death penalty. The Eighth Amendment and many states wanted to reinstate the penalty. Upon these reforms, the court quickly recognized that the death penalty itself was constitutional following the change. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, approximately 1,366 murderers have been executed in the United States. The execution took place in 34 different states: in Texas 510 were executed and in Indiana even 20. From those execution statistics, several methods emerge that were used to torment those who were convicted and to whom the sentence was attributed. More than a thousand convicted murderers are executed by lethal injection. About 3 were executed by hanging and 3 were executed by firing squad. Of these, 11 people were executed by gas chamber and 158 were executed by electric chair. The death penalty should be abolished because it is a legalized form of cruel and unusual punishment for prisoners who have committed heinous crimes. In the United States, the number of states with the death penalty is 32. The rest of the states have decided to abolish the punishment. Some 18 states have now suspended the death penalty, declaring that the death penalty should be illegal across the country. A group called Amnesty International promoted a human rights resolution to eliminate capital punishment. The group is a non-governmental organization protecting ... middle of paper ... costs taxpayers more, depending on how long the trial might last until the convicted killer's execution is concluded. Maximum security prisons, where those sentenced to life in prison without the prospect of parole generally serve their sentences, are $90,000 per year per inmate. Considering California's current death row population of 670 people, this represents $63.3 million per year. The death penalty gives closure to the families of the victims who have suffered so much. Contributes to the problem of overpopulation in the prison system. Parole or prisoner escapes can give criminals another chance to kill. It is barbaric and violates the “cruel and unusual” clause of the Bill of Rights. Life in prison is a worse punishment and a more effective deterrent. We as a society must move away from the “eye for an eye” revenge mentality if we want civilization to progress.