When I was in high school I read a short story called "The Lottery." Every summer, in a small New England farm town, the people would gather for a ritual that ended with one of them being stoned to death. The people supported the ritual without knowing the meaning behind it or the consequences that could result.

In the United States today we have a similar lottery. It is called the death penalty.

Many people support the death penalty without knowing the facts or the consequences. We can no longer condone this human rights abuse. It is time we learn the truth.

Myth 1 -- The death penalty is humane. The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. In a 1983 execution it took three charges of 1900 volts over a period of 14 minutes to kill the prisoner. After the second charge, smoke and flame erupted from his left temple and leg.

Myth 2 -- The death penalty deters crime. The U.S. Supreme Court and The United Nations agreed there is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime.

Myth 3 -- The death penalty saves taxpayers money. In reality, the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment as a result of high legal costs during the appeals process.

Myth 4 -- The death penalty is not biased. Studies have shown the death penalty to be racially biased. In Florida, a black man convicted of killing a white man is five times more likely to receive a death sentence than a white man convicted of killing another white man.

Many people approve of the death penalty because they feel that murderers "deserve to die." Every human being is born with certain universal human rights including the right to life. These rights are guaranteed. They are not rewards for good behavior and they cannot be taken away for bad behavior. No one deserves to die and the idea of "an eye for an eye" is no excuse. As Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

However, it isn't the whole world that is going blind, but the United States. There are approximately 60 countries in the world with the death penalty, but the United States is the only Western industrialized nation that still executes. In addition, the United States is one of only seven countries which allows the execution of juvenile offenders. In fact, the United States has more juveniles on death row than any other country.

Since 1975, one country every year has abolished the death penalty. Despite this worldwide trend towards abolition, politicians in the United States want to institute the death penalty for an even wider range of crimes.

In the recent U.S. Senate race, both candidates declared their support for the death penalty for additional crimes including drug-related offenses. One Harris Wofford commercial stated that he voted for the death penalty for 51 crimes.

It seems as though every politician wants to appear "tough on crime." What better way to do so than to say, "Let's kill all the criminals."

Unfortunately, this leaves the American public with a false sense of security. The death penalty does not protect us. It prevents us from looking for real solutions to violent crime.

The death penalty is a lottery, plain and simple. Not every murderer is sentenced to death. Who gets sentenced and who doesn't?

People would like to believe that it is solely based on the severity of the crime. However, other factors that are just as influential include the state where the crime was committed and the quality of the defense.

According to Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, "People are not sentenced to death for committing the worst crime -- they are sentenced to death for having the worst lawyer."

Poor people who can't afford their own legal representation often get inexperienced, court-appointed lawyers. Ultimately, this can mean the difference between life and death.

Even more disturbing is the thought that insane criminals will be given drugs so that they can be executed.

In Lousiana, a district judge has ordered that an inmate receive an anti-psychotic drug to make him sane enough to execute. Who really is the insane person on this situation -- the criminal or the judge? It is incredible to think that someone will be "cured" so that they can be killed.

We can no longer ignore the fact that the death penalty is irreversible. Mistakes can be made. However, you can't release a wrongly accused person who has already been killed.

Since 1900, there have been 23 documented cases of innocent people being executed. Is this acceptable? Are these people just sacrifices to the justice system? Luckily, the appeals process has prevented even more people from being wrongly executed.

Joseph Richardson spent 21 years on death row for murders he didn't commit. He had come within 24 hours of being executed before he was finally released in April 1989.

What are the consequences of the death penalty on our society? First we must ask ourselves, "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?" It makes no sense.

The death penalty doesn't solve violent crime; it breeds violence. The death penalty doesn't create a safer society; it prevents us from having one. The death penalty is not a fair and humane punishment; it is biased and cruel.

According to Coretta Scott King, "Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by legalized murder."

The United States is going blind. Revenge is not the answer. We are fooling ourselves if we continue to believe that the death penalty deters crime, saves money or protects us from the most dangerous "elements" in our society. The "worst-sinning" criminals aren't the ones being executed -- the poor, minorites, and juveniles are the ones being killed.

Living in the wrong state or having the wrong lawyer has more to do with getting the death penalty that the severity of the crime. We must open our eyes to the truth. We cannot believe the rhetoric of the politicians who tell us that the death penalty is the solution to violent crime. We must respect life. We must abolish the death penalty.