1st Negative Case You have heard in the affirmative and you may disagree or agree with some of their points, but the reality is that their plan will not and cannot have success in today's society. True, the plan looks very good on paper, but it won't work. The current system, with the death penalty, is much better than without. The Negative Side, which my partner and I represent, believes that the death penalty should not be abolished and that the current system, which allows states to choose whether they want to impose the death penalty, should continue to be used. It's true that innocent people have been executed, but that number is tiny compared to the amount of "real" criminals who are rightfully executed. A 28-step procedure is required before a person can be sentenced to death. Because the process consists of numerous steps and involves many different people, human error is greatly reduced. The death penalty is not a racial or gender bias, contrary to what the affirmative group believes. The fact is that men commit more crimes, so they will be convicted more frequently than women. The ratio of men to women on death row and executed is 68:1 or 3400:50 (NAACP Spring 1996). From 1976 to 1994, men committed 7 times more murders than women or at a ratio of 7:1 (Source '94). Therefore, it can be statically shown that men are, by a ratio of 70:1, more likely to be on death row than women. Like gender bias, racial bias is nonexistent in death penalty sentences. Whites represent 56% of those executed and blacks 38% (NAACP summer 1996). The remaining 6% are other minorities. The death penalty is not a detriment to any race, but just by looking at the numbers it may seem like it is. The total population of each race will give the illusion of prejudice, but this is not true. The affirmative side also claims that the cost of life in prison without parole is much cheaper than the cost of the death penalty, but this, like their charge of bias, is false. In the long run the death penalty costs millions less than life without parole, but when our numbers are compared to those of the yes answer it is not possible to reach a right or wrong conclusion. No team can provide unbiased numbers as both sides' studies are biased.