Support for the death penalty has slipped to just below 50 percent, its lowest level in 40 years.

Some Catholics have turned their sights to other issues—euthanasia, death penalty—that are part of the church’s pro-life agenda.

"We want to let Catholics all throughout the state know that the death penalty is not necessary to protect public safety," Tom Venzor, head of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said at a press event on Sept. 29.

In 2007, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, at the time bishop of Rapid City asked: Is the right to life conditional, or is it unconditional? Can men and women forfeit their right to life by their behavior, or is that right irrevocably given by God?

Even the guilty have a right to life, but that is not the only reason to stand against capital punishment.