I’ve gotta agree. I’m morally OK with the death penalty for certain crimes, not so much for punishment or deterrence but for the same reasons you’d put down a rabid dog. But when prosecutorial misbehavior comes out in the news so often, I couldn’t abide sentencing someone today unless there was overwhelming objective proof that it was actually them.
Same here. I'm not opposed to the death penalty in principle, but it's impossible to put enough protections in place to prevent executing innocent people. Plus, there really isn't a safety issue when someone could be put into supermax. Of course, there's the issue that supermax borders (at least) on cruel and unusual punishment, but that's another issue that needs to addressed separately.
Pretty much where I’m at too. The risk of a dodgy prosecution resulting in an innocent person being executed is way too high.
Yep, and it has happened in the past, and as long as we have it, it will in the future.
It's not the only reason, in my opinion. My philosophy is that no human has the right to take the life of another, for any reason (outside of direct self-defense). It's basically an expansion on Blackstone's formulation - "it is better to let 10 guilty persons live than that one innocent be murdered"
This sort of discussion always puts me in mind of what J.R.R. Tolkien said (via Gandalf),
"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement."