Since February’s announcement by Gov. Jay Inslee of his moratorium on capital punishment, there has been refreshed interest in the pros-and-cons conversation.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court placed a moratorium on executions, deemed as “cruel and unusual” (Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution), and then lifted the moratorium in 1976. Power was then given back to the states to employ or not.

Washington state decided to employ capital punishment. Five executions have been carried out since then, 1993 being the first. Nine men are currently waiting on death row at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. One death row inmate has been found innocent of charges and freed.

Washington is one of the 32 states remaining with the death penalty, and 18 states have outlawed it. We are one of three states whose governors have placed capital punishment on a moratorium, along with Oregon and Colorado.

For Inslee, a moratorium on capital punishment means only a reprieve, a temporary suspension of death. The next governor is able to lift the moratorium should he or she so decide. Inslee has not yet proposed legislation to abolish the death penalty.

Why are states heading away from supporting capital punishment?

Flawed system. Americans as a whole still feel criminals should be punished. However, the death penalty shines an unwanted spotlight on a terribly flawed system. Nineteen men in Washington’s history have been taken off death row because of being wrongly sentenced. Our criminal justice system, from beginning to end, will always be prone to human error.

Cost. Many aren’t aware of the enormous cost of trying a death penalty case. It costs far more than a lifetime in prison. Cost is enormous because each process of the trial is intensified. Not only is the trial longer and more arduous (lawyers, jury selection, investigators, expert witnesses, etc.), but there is an automatic appeals process. This adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. Our taxes usually end up paying for these court costs.

Unfair/inconsistent. Not many people could afford what it takes for this type of defense. That’s probably how most people on death row wound up there, because they had poor legal defense and a poor bank account. Also, inmates on death row aren’t even the worst of the inmates. Look at Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, who was convicted of murdering 49 women. Capital punishment was used as a bargaining chip to get information on some of his other suspected victims. He is now serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.

Racial discrimination. Racial bias is involved with capital punishment throughout the nation. In Washington, nearly half of the death row inmates are African-American, yet Washington doesn’t even have a 4 percent African-American population. Racial discrimination can begin with the arresting officers and end up affecting the prosecuting attorney’s game plan, jury selection, as well as the jury’s findings.

Morality. Whether due to religion or personal philosophies, some believe it’s wrong to take a human life, for whatever purpose. To allow the state to take a human life compounds this belief. There is also the morality of the waste of time and tax dollars used toward a punishment that is abhorred by the rest of the western world. The U.S. remains the last of the western world to employ the death penalty. In its company are countries like China, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Deterrence. Many believe that capital punishment is a necessary deterrence to some crimes of violence. Inslee conceded in February that this theory has yet to be proved.

Justice vs. vengeance. Families of victims sometimes think they want retribution in like for the defendant found guilty of murder. Vengeance has a way of getting confused with justice. The state has the responsibility to perform swift justice, not revenge. The death penalty process takes years to culminate.

Pro or con, what’s needed is some public debate so that Washington can decide whether it wants to keep or get rid of capital punishment. Unfortunately, Inslee’s moratorium is not an answer to the problems that exists, but perhaps it’s a good place to start.

— Marylin Olds can be reached at marylin.olds@gmail.com.