Death of the Death Penalty?

I'm staunchly against the death penalty due, in part, to two reasons: 1) innocent people have been sentenced to death and 2) the death penalty is applied disproportionately to minorities. According to The Innocence Project 17 people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release.

Fortunately, the death penalty may be on the decline in several states and the reason is...the recession.

From MSNBC...

After decades of moral arguments reaching biblical proportions, after long, twisted journeys to the nation's highest court and back, the death penalty may be abandoned by several states for a reason having nothing to do with right or wrong:

Money.

Turns out, it is cheaper to imprison killers for life than to execute them, according to a series of recent surveys. Tens of millions of dollars cheaper, politicians are learning, during a tumbling recession when nearly every state faces job cuts and massive deficits.

So an increasing number of them are considering abolishing capital punishment in favor of life imprisonment, not on principle but out of financial necessity.