To be honest, I'm all for the death penalty. I take the O'Reilly approach. When I was skimming through the posts, I noticed someone said that the death penalty costs much more than incarceration. This is both right and wrong. The investigation, trial, and appeal costs for a death-penalty trial are greater, however, the cost of actually carrying out the execution are less than half the cost of carrying out a life sentence in prison. (This information can be found in a report done by the state of Kansas at
http://www.kslegislature.org/postaudit/audits_perform/04pa03a.pdf)
I believe some people's crimes warrant execution. Take rape for example. If your daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, etc. was raped, wouldn't you want the bastard killed? I also believe child molestors who murder their victims should be executed. Scum like that doesn't deserve to live. However, you will argue hypocrisy. I agree with the hypocrisy of the death penalty, but in extreme situations, as the ones mentioned, it is okay. Do you think the war criminals from WWII should have been executed?
That is exactly why we have trials: to determine the need for the death penalty. And to punish those who commit a crime, there should be an entirely different prison system. But don't get me started on that, I could go on for days.