The death penalty should be abolished in the United States because it is unethical, expensive, and usually racially biased. The heinous crimes that prisoners have committed have led to 1,283 executions by lethal injection. Though their actions are horrid, problems should not be solved with death. The death penalty violates the 8th amendment stating there should be no cruel and unusual punishment. In past decades, there have been multiple execution methods that were far more than cruel than those today. Examples being the electric chair, firing squad, and hanging. I think that those who commit crimes should have to live with the consequences of their actions. Life in prison not only forces those to live with their actions, but it is also less expensive. Not to mention, over 150 wrongfully convicted inmates have been executed. Living with a racially biased criminal justice system makes some judges feel the need to give a black man a longer sentence than a white man after they both commit the same crime. Many people are oblivious to the systemic racism in our society and think that racism was a thing of the past, little do they know what is going on behind bars.  A single-action doesn’t represent someone's true character. Though the process of execution has changed throughout the years, the thought of doing these inhumane things to others is hard to comprehend. The electric chair used to set people on fire, Firing squads were efficient but barbaric, and the sight of bodies hanging from a rope is beyond gruesome even though hanging is still legal in 3 states. The main method of execution today is lethal injection. Lethal injection is composed of 3 drugs. pancuronium bromide- used to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, midazolam- used to calm the inmates, and finally potassium chloride- used to stop their heart. These drugs should not be used on humans. Nothing should be put into the human body that will stop your heart or cause respiratory arrest. The death penalty is a hypocritical action in the criminal justice system, and it not only violates the US constitution, but it also violates what every human deserves most, the right to life.