Who are we, each of us, to decide whether the man standing next to us, murderer or otherwise, is "no longer fit to be among We " ? The death penalty is used for crimes such as treason, murder, terrorism, kidnapping, and even perjury resulting in the execution of an innocent person. The question of whether or not the death penalty is just has been debated for years. And more than two-thirds of the world's countries have banned any form of government from using the death penalty. The Eighth Amendment to our Constitution states that cruel and unusual punishments, such as death, shall not be inflicted on any man. The inclusion of this little statement in one of the documents on which our country was built is proof of man's ability to recognize that there is indeed a line to be crossed when it comes to punishment. Yet somehow the man's actions demonstrate a complete disregard for this part of our Constitution: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. If this is the conclusion that the majority of our society comes to, then why do they teach their children differently? From day one, the majority of young minds have understood that it is not okay to hit someone just because they hit you. So when suddenly, at the age of eighteen, people in the United States can be accused of murder and put to death, it is baffling to wonder what has changed. It is against all human rights to deprive a man or woman of their life. Besides the moral reasons to abolish capital punishment, there are always risks of wrongful conviction or mental illness. There is no evidence that the death penalty is a preventative measure against murder, so why go so far as to kill another human being? Over the past 38 years...... middle of paper ...... death -penalty-and-innocencehttp://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death -penalty-facts/death-penalty-costhttp://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=53http://crime.about.com/od/death/i/dpissue1.htmhttp://www.deathpenaltyinfo .org/crimes-punishable-death-penalty#BJShttp://deathpenalty.procon.org/view .answers.php?questionID=001000http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/deathpenalty.htmhttp ://www.openbible.info/topics/eye_for_an_eyehttp://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-et-peine-de-morthttp://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=006946https:/ /death.rdsecure.org/article.php?id=42http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-facts/death-penalty-costhttp://abcnews .go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3259389&page=1http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/lack -avocats-blocateur-appels-affaires-capitales