This is not an easy subject to write about, so please bear with me. I am a 2nd-amendment-loving, God-fearing Republican. I am Conservative to a T. I also happen to be against the death penalty. I definitely don't fit the status quo in that regard.

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2015, about 40 percent of Democrats favored the death penalty for people convicted of murder. Republican support came in at around 77 percent.

An eye for an eye...

For my first 18 years or so, I was a staunch supporter of the death penalty. However, my support has severely waned in the last few years. Let me just say this: I can see both sides of the argument. I understand the desire to have vengeance, and in many cases, closure. I get "an eye for an eye" -- but I also know that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

I choose not to support the death penalty for the simple fact that if one person is sentenced to die that is innocent, that is one person too many. Just as innocents don't deserve to die at the hands of a murderer, an innocent who is accused of murder and killed by the state is just as bad. One life is not worth more than another. This is my biggest moral argument.

Let's talk about the cost:

Housing prisoners is expensive. It costs the state and taxpayers millions of dollars a year. I am not blind to this. However, a Seattle University study asserts that in Washington, "each death penalty case cost an average of $1 million more than a similar case where the death penalty was not sought." In Nevada, the "legislature found that the average death penalty case costs a half million dollars more than a case in which the death penalty is not sought." According to the Kansas Judicial Council, "defending a death penalty case costs about four times as much as defending a case where the death penalty is not sought." The cost of pursuing the death penalty is, by all accounts, more expensive than seeking a regular prison term.

Is the death penalty constitutional? Is it humane?

The eighth amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits the government from "cruel and unusual punishment." What do you consider cruel and unusual? While lethal injection can be viewed as "more" humane than the electrical chair or hanging, is lethal injection truly humane? There have been numerous botched executions, which causes me to question whether execution by lethal injection is indeed just.

For example, in 2007, Christopher Newton was stuck with the injection needle 10 times before the administering began. It then took two hours for Newton to die. Two hours.

In February of 2016, executioners spent 32 minutes trying to insert an IV into Brandon Jones' arm. Then, executioners spent 13 minutes inserting the IV near the 72-year-old man's groin.

These two cases are just two of dozens of failed/prolonged executions by lethal injection.

Since 1973, 156 people have been exonerated and freed from death row. Of the people who went on to be executed, I wonder how many of them would have eventually been exonerated? How many of those killed by the prison system would have been proven innocent?

Thirteen people who have been executed are now thought to be innocent. These thirteen people are gone. There are no second chances for them. Their families have to live with the knowledge that their loved ones were murdered; there is no going back. I can't imagine having my father killed by lethal injection just to find out years later that he was later innocent. This is unthinkable.

So, what do we do?

I do understand that executions in the United States have steadily decreased in the past years, and for that, I am thankful. I am not promoting letting the guilty off the hook; please don't misunderstand me. I am asking you to consider the death penalty in its entirety. I am begging you to consider the men and women who have died via execution, and were later thought innocent. Think about the families who watched executioners kill their father, son, or uncle.

I am not against punishment; don't get me wrong. I'm merely in support of executing justice rather than executing people.

I believe that we, as onlookers, can rarely be 100 percent sure that a person is guilty. As long as there is doubt present in our minds, how can we possibly make the decision to take another human's life? We cannot play God -- we should not be able to hold the power of life and death.

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord." Romans 12:19

Find the information used in my article here:

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/28/5-...

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalt...