The media often overlooks this distinction, and thrives on causing widespread panic that an innocent person was falsely convicted. Being acquitted, however, does not mean that the defendant did not actually commit the crime. Please see Innocence and the Death Penalty . The death penalty is not a deterrent against violent crime. The death penalty as a deterrent to crime is not the issue.
Capital punishment is, pardon the redundancy, a punishment for crime.
The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is not cruel and unusual punishment. The framers of the Constitution supported the death penalty, so it is ridiculous to claim that cruel and unusual punishment refers to the death penalty. Furthermore, it is logically impossible to be cruel while punishing a guilty murderer for murdering an innocent victim. I have tried to argue here that the death penalty is moral and just.