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But for the grace and mercy of God go you and I. Many if not most of the time these criminals were themselves victims in their early life. But let's not bother ourselves with such trivialities. These should be reasons to pause, but are not the most dispositive, definitive reasons to cease unjust capital punishment.

- You think the death penalty serves justice because it's an "eye for an eye." Fair enough except for one problem: Somebody has already paid "an eye for an eye" for those criminals and their heinous acts, so unjust double jeopardy is in play here.
- What about the victims and their family? Countless personal and professional examples testify to the fact that there is only one way victims of savagery can recover from the hurt and angst of victimization: forgiveness. Revenge feels good for awhile but does not relieve the pain.
- What about society? You lock up dangerous criminals to protect society.
- What about the cost? Oh, OK well I guess there is such thing as killing for convenience, but let's take another tack which hits directly at our medieval penal system: prisoners should be productive and at least pay their way in prison.

>> You think the death penalty serves justice because it's an "eye for an eye." Fair enough except for one problem: Somebody has already paid "an eye for an eye" for those criminals and their heinous acts, so unjust double jeopardy is in play here.

Your argument here precludes any punishment for any crime. It precludes arrest and trial for any crimes, and probably even precludes self-defense.

Maybe you're OK with that.

Intentions matter, but actions more. The state executes people to keep private citizens from exacting revenge. Due process allows the accused to defend himself, but the very process has become so corrupted that it is in too many cases, justice denied.

Somebody has already paid "an eye for an eye" for those criminals and their heinous acts, so unjust double jeopardy is in play here.

Wrong 'eye' for payment.

? Countless personal and professional examples testify to the fact that there is only one way victims of savagery can recover from the hurt and angst of victimization: forgiveness

Agree, for the survivors. Justice is within the purview of the state, where there is the death penalty, that judgement has been made. The state has to need of forgiveness as an impersonal entity.

- What about the cost? Oh, OK well I guess there is such thing as killing for convenience, but let's take another tack which hits directly at our medieval penal system: prisoners should be productive and at least pay their way in prison.

So the argument that has merit that you don't refute is deflected to another pipe dream.

Look, I had a rough childhood, teen years, and had been robbed of my twenties because of controlling abusers. Like them, I was presented with a lot of choices to choose evil. I had a TON of them presented to me when I was technically homeless, living in adult foster care in a ghetto. I chose the hard way, the way that would keep me from going from bad to worse.

Talk to anyone who had a rough childhood, but managed to avoid committing crimes and hurting other people.

A lot of killers don’t have bad childhoods, or parents, or people who hurt or neglect them. Some of them turn horrendously rotten despite all the advantages to lead a clean life.

I do know that trials should be conducted like forensic examinations and heavy penalties for giving false witness and the State should certainly be liable if an innocent person is executed.