Capital Punishment and Human Rights - Does the Death Penalty breach human rights? Can it ever be justified?

Capital punishment violates human rights and therefore cannot be justified for any reason. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every human has the inalienable right to life and the right not to be tortured or subjected to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. The death penalty is not always smooth and painless, and therefore it is torture. Every legal system is fallible, and it would therefore be very possible for innocent lives to …

…hard to imagine happening. Corrupt politicians can use it to suit their own agendas. The death penalty does not allow criminals a chance to redeem themselves. It is bad enough that some countries have the death penalty in the first place, and even worse that some execute children and pregnant women. Legal systems need to protect the public and punish criminals, but the punishment of execution is unnecessary and immoral - it breaches human rights.