I used to be in favor of the death penalty because I don't believe human life has any especial value in and of itself -- individuals have value, but just being human doesn't grant you a position at the top of creation though so many seem to think so. Now I don't for two reasons, one moral and one practical. The moral one is that our justice system is horrible about sifting the innocent from the guilty and too many innocent men have been convicted. You can free a man from prison if he's exonerated years later -- you can't unexecute him. The practical reason is that death penalty cases take up too much taxpayer money and court time what with all the appeals -- it's really cheaper just to give a convict life without parole than to execute him.