Federally, murder for hire is punishable by death. What is war?

So right now I'm really into the anti-death penalty thing. There's one of Ghandi's most famous lines "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." There's the logic that punishing a person for murder is in itself murder. Let's not forget that the death penalty actually costs taxpayers more money than a life sentence. Or how about the fact that it doesn't deter potential murderers, but in truth those states with the death penalty actually have higher rates of violent crime and murder than those states without? And finally, it's discriminatory. Death row inmates are disportionately black, poor, male, and/or mentally ill.

I'd like to recommend the following movies to you:

• Dead Man Walking written and directed by Tim Robins, starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean and Sean Penn as death row inmate Matthew Poncelet. This movie was based off of S. Helen's book of the same name, written after her first experience with prison ministry. The setting is Lousiana and very anti-death penalty. Watch the movie. Then watch it with Robbin's commentary.
• The Life of David Gale written by Charles Randolph and directed by Alan Parker. It stars Kevin Spacey as David Gale, a man looking at his last week of life before his execution for the rape and murder of a fellow anti-death penalty activist, Kate Winslet as reporter Bitsey Bloom covering Gale's final days, and Laura Linney as an anti-death penalty activist. The setting is Texas and while the intention was not to take a side, it can be seen as a loose anti-death penalty movie.

For your own research, start with Sister Helen's official site to learn more about her and her work, and the Death Penalty Information Center. Amnesty International USA also offers a lot of statistics.