In the U.S., individuals can face the death penalty even when their guilt is not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

A potentially innocent man was executed by the state of Missouri on Sept. 24.

Marcellus Williams, 55, was a devout Muslim, poet, and father. He was convicted in 2001 for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle and spent nearly two decades on death row.

Despite pleas from Gayle’s family to spare him, allegations of jury bias, contamination of the murder weapon, attempted intervention by attorneys on both sides, and petitions from the public for a more thorough trial, Williams was denied a stay of execution by the Missouri Supreme Court and governor.

A final plea to the U.S. Supreme Court was also denied with only a third of the justices saying they would have granted the stay.

Williams was administered a lethal injection at 6:01 p.m. CT and pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m.

His last words were, “All praise be to Allah in every situation!”

The prominence of William’s execution — and the protests against it — has sparked renewed debate on capital punishment, including in Iowa, where some Republican lawmakers are attempting to revive it in response to certain crimes in recent decades.

In light of the haunting close to William’s trial, it’s clear Iowa does not need to revive the death penalty, which was abolished in 1965. In fact, the 24 states that still allow capital punishment should take steps to abolish it.

The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person.

Human judgment, while often reasonable, is far too flawed for life-and-death decisions, as shown by the fact that at least 200 people sentenced to death since 1973 have been exonerated.

Behind human error in judicial proceedings lie a multitude of professional and legal errors. In wrongful conviction cases among death-row exonerations between 2007 and April 2017, the leading causes were official misconduct at 82.4 percent, perjury or false accusation at 76.5 percent, false or misleading forensic evidence at 32.4 percent, inadequate legal defense at 23.5 percent, false or fabricated confession at 17.5 percent, and mistaken eyewitness identification at 11.8 percent.

Capital punishment is also less humane than portrayed. Across the states that allow it, methods include the electric chair, firing squad, gas chamber, and the most common — lethal injection. Even lethal injection, considered a tamer and more peaceful cause of death, has been reported to be excruciatingly painful.

Despite the Eighth Amendment’s protection from “cruel and unusual punishments,” a 2019 Supreme Court decision issued a sweeping defense of the death penalty, even in cases where inmates face a risk of extreme pain.

“The Eighth Amendment does not guarantee a painless death,” Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority.

The ruling blatantly contradicts an amendment intended to protect people from harm.

The use of such cruel punishments is often justified by claims that it deters crime. However, the National Research Council of the National Academies has found such claims to be “fundamentally flawed.”

Furthermore, studies show that murder rates are lower in states without the death penalty than in those with it.

In a 2019 letter to then-President Donald Trump, 175 families of murder victims wrote that the death penalty “does not solve crime … It exacerbates the trauma of losing a loved one and creates yet another grieving family. It also wastes many millions of dollars that could be better invested in programs that actually reduce crime and violence and that address the needs of families like ours.”

Indeed, the death penalty is far more expensive than its closest alternative: life in prison. A 2017 study estimated that in Oklahoma, a capital case costs $110,000 more, on average, than a non-capital case.

There is a steep price for those involved in the capital punishment process as well. Guilt, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress are just a few of the symptoms experienced by lawyers, wardens, and executors who are closely involved with the killing of another human being.

“It does no more than increase the number of victims while producing no positive outcomes,” said Frank Thompson, the former superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary.

Little to no support systems or counseling services are in place to combat what these individuals experience.

Although states have basic employee assistance programs, or EAPs, these programs typically offer only a handful of free counseling sessions before referring people to pay out of pocket if they need more — which they typically do for such acute emotional distress. Nor are EAPs truly designed to treat complex problems and traumas.

EAPs also do not provide services to non-employees, meaning religious leaders or families involved in an execution do not receive the help they may need.

Capital punishment is costly in terms of time, money, and moral consequence.

The death penalty needs to be abolished and remain abolished — not revived.

One life does not bring back another, and two wrongs do not make a right.