I don't believe in the death penalty at all, even in the case of homicide. The 8th amendment says " Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." I consider death to be a cruel punishment. I do think we should punish criminals for what they do, but not with death.
Death is considered to be the ultimate punishment for a crime. I can somewhat understand the argument that murderers deserve death because they actually took someone's life, but how can you justify murder on someone who hasn't even committed murder themselves.
The United States is supposed to be a civilized country and
above the use of horrible act of torture. Shouldn't we also be above the use of murder as a punishment? How are we any better then they are if we murder them, especially when they didn't even murder anyone?