versal Declaration of Human Rights, which is a pledge among nations to promote fundamental rights as the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world. The political community in Europe often condemns the United States as human rights violator since it still uses the death penalty on murderers, which they insist is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Lowe). This article is open to interpretation, and depending where one stands, can be interpreted many different ways. The article never says directly that capital punishment is wrong or not allowed. The United States halted capital punishment in 1967, but officially reinstated it in 1977 (Gettings). The United States takes a lot of criticism for standing against the European countries on this issue. Giuliano Amato, Prime Minister of Italy, 14 September 2000, commenting on a scheduled execution in Virginia said, "The death penalty is disgusting, particularly if it condemns an innocent. But it remains an injustice even when it falls on someone who is guilty of a crime." (Lowe)
             There is some evidence that suggest that not all Europeans dislike the death penalty. According to Joshua Micah Marshall, the Washington editor of The American Prospect, "It's true that every industrialized nation, save Japan and the US, have abolished capital punishment, but the reason isn't as death-penalty opponents usually assume, that their populations eschew the death penalty. In fact, opinion polls show that Europeans and Canadians want executions almost as much as their American counterparts do."(Lowe) Recent informal polls have suggested that support for capital punishment is as high as fifty-percent in some Western European countries. The United States has problems that many other countries don't have. America is a "melting pot" of different cultures and races. Many Euro
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