End the Death Penalty

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The death penalty is the ultimate in cruel and unusual punishment and we believe there is never a moment where its use is justified, reasonable, or proportionate.

Join our global campaign and help us stop and slow its use in China, Iran and the US, to name a few.

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Amnesty International opposes the death penalty because it is a violation of two fundamental human rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

the right to life, and
the right not to be tortured or subject to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.

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LemonTwist speaks out about
End the Death Penalty

Life in general is a precious thing. To callously destroy it in what is nothing more than sanctioned murder is hypocritical in the extreme. Why is the general population murdered for murder but the government completely allowed to get away with it? Not to mention the slow, cruel, mental torture of places like death row.
Once dead, that's it. No chance of repentance, guilt or improvement. Life imprisonment allows all of these things as well as the possibility of innocence. You only have to look at someone like Troy Davis' case to immediately realise that an awful lot of innocent people must be killed by the death penalty.
Anyone who commits crimes nominally worthy of the death sentence has clearly got a reason for it, no matter how twisted. That reason should be listened to and the root problems that spawn such crimes must be focused on and tackled, such as abuse, poverty or mental illness.

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