The Capital Punishment system violates the Constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment.  ACLU opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, and looks forward to the day when the US joins the majority of nations in abolishing it.

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted in 2007, 2008 and 2010 calling for a global moratorium on executions, with a sense to abolition. Although many nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place. The People's Republic of China, India, the United States of America and Indonesia are the four most popular countries in the world. They continue to apply the death penalty. Each of these four nations voted against the General Assembly resolutions.

Definition of Capital Punishment

      Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses.