This country is founded centuries ago on the beliefs of a God fearing society. When our laws were first coming about was the "Eye for an eye" attitude taken into consideration? Did our founding fathers look upon the senseless acts of killing another human being as being so bad that we were willing to take the life of the murderer? What happened to the rights of the murderer because they killed? Where did it state, "You killed and now you have no rights, even to live"? Does that not conflict with America's attitude "The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"? Do we not owe it to the person to help them see the wrong in what they have done? To try to rehabilitate that person so they can become a member of society again and live a normal life? Not to be butchered like cattle and tossed away like a side of contaminated beef!.
Violating someone's civil rights is the number one reason the death penalty should be abolished. The Constitution of the United States empathetically states that a person who commits a crime still retains all their basic rights. Though their rights might be limited as a result of committing the crime; as in restriction of movement (Jail Time), not able to own a firearm (Convicted Felon), or the right to vote. Nowhere will you find anything that states, "You are convicted of a crime and now you are nothing but a number. From now on you will be forgotten and forsaken". In 1948 the United Nations, without dissent, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration is a pledge among nations to promote fundamental rights as the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world. It proclaims each person's right to protection from deprivation of life, and it categorically states that no one shall be subjected to cruel or degrading punishment. In 1976 the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was not inherently unconstitutional if procedures existed to prevent the punishment from being applied in an arbitrary manner.