This is my John Galt speaking cartoon

[LavCat]

This is why the argument for the death penalty as justice also fails. It is murder by the State as justice for a similar crime. If the death penalty has merit, it is either in its harshness as a preventive warning, or as the extreme ultimate means to protect society against convicted monsters.

Déjà vu all over again I believe this is covered in book 4 of The Collected LL Rants and Ramblings -- the first (Mayan) edition to be published New Years Eve, 2012. Available in translation if there is a 2013.

I am for executing human shaped predators. We've done it for other species that had less fault.

I am against killing people under the present system of legality and chance. No system is perfect, but the USA's legal system is highly imperfect -- except as an example of the free market. You can buy "justice" if you've got the money.

Either we have capital punishment or we don't. Texas and the states that don't have it are closest to being consistent. The states that have it but don't use it or seldom use it are a large part of why it is inefficient as a deterrent.

If we are to have capital punishment as a deterrent, then it has to be public. Not much deterrence is needed by the people who read newspapers and watch the news. Those that don't will not be deterred by what they do not know.

And leave the remains on public display for many years.