Capital Punishment

Should capital punishment be abolished? Abolishing capital punishment has become a status symbol for countries boasting about their high human rights standards. But is it really a benchmark that the citizens are treated fairly. In India the wind is blowing in both direections what with talks of abolishing capital punishment completely and some (LK Advani the PM-in-waiting) arguing for awarding it to rapists- currently they get only a life sentence. Islamic countires with the strictest of laws have the lowest crime rates, while the so called human rights havens are crippled with extremely high crime rates inspite of economic prosperity.