When the state legislates murder to punish murder, there is no end to the cycle of violence. When murder is done in the name of protection, security and morality unravel. In our nation, the death penalty has long been an instrument of unequal justice, a temptation to indulge in the worst sins of our national spirit: fear, revenge, racism. Let's abolish it and end the cycle of violence from early childhood, across the social spectrum. Conflict is inevitable as part of human life; violence is not.