Death penalty a FLAWED tool to tackle crime

I am completely opposed to the death penalty for numerous reasons. First, the preponderance of studies have shown that there is zero deterrent effect of the death penalty on violent crime. Second, as evidenced by the majority of posts on here, the death penalty is not about justice, it is about revenge, which places society on par with the criminal; more than willing to kill to obtain a result. Third, it is a known fact that the U. S. has executed people later found to be innocent (The story of Carlos DeLuna is but one; there are another 10 who were executed despite strong evidence of innocence. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed-possibly-innocent ). Below is a listing of 152 death row inmates in the U. S. eventually released after having been found innocent ( http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row ) . If that many were innocent, how many more were innocent but executed? The average period of time from arrest to eventual release is 11.2 years...years of their lives that can never be regained, all because someone made a mistake, and usually no one was willing to do the work necessary to correct that mistake. Fourth, the U. S. is the only remaining Western country still employing the death penalty. We are now in the company of such enlightened countries as Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, China, Somalia...and the list of celebrities goes on. The death penalty has not resolved the problem of violent crime, and never will.