I'm a moderate and I don't believe in the death penalty simply because it costs us more money than life in prison. Whenever possible, they should be saving the tax payers money.
It costs no more in upkeep to keep someone on death row than life. The costs occur in an endless appeal process. Limit the appeals and save the money.
The most expensive prisoners to keep are those killers who got life instead of the death penalty. They go on to kill other prisoners or guards. Just for fun they will plan and instigate a prison riot.
These actions are not without punishment. They get sent to a super prison like Pelican Bay. The prisoners are so dangerous that they are not allowed contact with one another. They never have lights out. The guard to pirsoner ratio is two to one. They eat their pre cut up meat with specially made paper utensils. There are no prison jobs for them. They don't clean or do laundry. Everything is done for them and we pay for that. These are the most expensive prisons in the world.
If you are anti death penalty because you think it's cheaper. Look into it a bit more and see what the real financial picture is.