Different nation-states have different death penalties. Iran, for example, allows women to be stoned to death for improper sex. This is barbaric behavior. Most of the civilized world with the exception of the United States has denounced the death penalty.
Of the nations that still practice the death penalty, much of the intellectual justification to the community of nations is that "America is doing it - so it must be acceptable." America can be seen as a justification for other countries to kill people for religious transgressions. It raises the question if America's death penalty is an indirect cause for unjust executions in other nations, and if America renounces the death penalty, that other nations could be pressured into stopping their unjust executions as well. The world would be a better place if America set an example of wisdom rather than an example of revenge.
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