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Because (at least how I see) values are a combination of personal belief and emotional investment. And that is why it can never be absolutely understood by someone else, let alone defended by someone else.
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You doesn't need absolute understanding to understand the debate about the death penalty.
Nobody who favors the death penalty actually defends it on those grounds that Tim argued.
It like saying that those people who are against the Afghanistan war only care about the size of the military budget and ignore the moral arguments for peace.
Your average opponent of the Afghanistan war would certainly prefer when the money would be spent on health care.
For those who oppose war however the argument that war kills a lot of innocent people is however much more compelling than the monetary argument.
Saying "Those who are against the Afghanistan war just aren't willing to pay the money to do the morally right thing" is just as mistaken as saying "Those who are for the death penalty just aren't willing to pay the money to do the morally right thing".
Neither helps you with understanding other people, for most people money is no sacred value and those few people are against public spending on principle and wouldn't want a reallocating on that money to another cause but lower taxation.