Capital punishment is the legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. The capital punishment debate, in the United States, has been ongoing for almost four hundred years. Opponents of capital punishment cite that it's arbitrariness and the execution of the "innocent" as reasons why they oppose it. Supporters of capital punishment cite its roles of deterrence and retribution as reasons why they support it. Capital punishment should be imposed upon those who purposely take the life of another.
             A strong voice in opposition to capital punishment comes from an organization called Amnesty International. Amnesty International works to promote and protect human rights. The abolishment of capital punishment worldwide is one of many issues they focus on. On their website against the death penalty, Amnesty International states, "The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishment"(Against).
             This statement is the foundation for their fight against capital punishment. Their feeling is that the governments that allow capital punishment are playing God, and have no authority to do so. A greater concern is the fear of innocent people being executed. They argue that as long as the law is susceptible to errors, innocent people will be sentenced to death and may be executed before they can be exonerated. They are not trying to minimize the effects of the crime upon the victims' families, but see the death penalty as the legal repetition of the crime itself.
             Amnesty International points out that there is no conclusive evidence to support the theory of deterrence. The grounds for this argument came from statistical data, gathered by social scientists. "...They compared homicide rates in pl...