End the Death Penalty

Life in general is a precious thing. To callously destroy it in what is nothing more than sanctioned murder is hypocritical in the extreme. Why is the general population murdered for murder but the government completely allowed to get away with it? Not to mention the slow, cruel, mental torture of places like death row.
Once dead, that's it. No chance of repentance, guilt or improvement. Life imprisonment allows all of these things as well as the possibility of innocence. You only have to look at someone like Troy Davis' case to immediately realise that an awful lot of innocent people must be killed by the death penalty.
Anyone who commits crimes nominally worthy of the death sentence has clearly got a reason for it, no matter how twisted. That reason should be listened to and the root problems that spawn such crimes must be focused on and tackled, such as abuse, poverty or mental illness.