Should the Death Penalty Continue to be Legal?

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times written by their Editorial Board. It is an older article, published on January 1, 2013, but I think it is still valid today. The article mainly talks about how the death penalty is being used less and less in the United States today. "While 33 states retain the death penalty on their books, 13 of them have not executed anyone for at least five years." This quote specifically got me thinking, if only a few states are even using the death penalty these days, why not get rid of it altogether? To me, life in prison is a much harsher sentence, and even a study found that "there is no useful evidence to determine if the death penalty deters serious crimes." This just confirms that there is no reason to keep the death penalty legal. It can also be a huge mistake when it comes to sentencing criminals the death penalty when not all of the facts were there. "Since 1973, a total of 142 people have been freed from death row after being exonerated with DNA or other kinds of evidence." That number is way too high for my comfort. How many innocent people have been executed by the government without all of the facts? Another thing to mention as well is that the death penalty is actually very expensive and we, the taxpayers, are paying for the government to have these killing tools. This could also potentially cause a racial issue in death penalty states as well, considering it has been proven that African American males typically receive harsher punishments than other races as well. I believe the death penalty should be made federally illegal, because what would deter a criminal from committing a crime more than knowing they will have to spend every last minute of their life in prison?