[Protoclown]

Forgive me, it was the fact that you ended your post with "Simple as that" which is pretty much right out of the book of Vincisms.

It's true that a killer feeling remorse over their crime will certainly not bring the victim back to life, but I still believe that in some cases redemption is possible, at least in the sense that the killer will make peace with god, the easter bunny, the spiders from mars, whatever, or perhaps even themselves before they die. And I believe in giving them that chance.

People make mistakes. To me, there is NO excuse for taking the life of another human being (which also encompases the death penalty), but people can change. A lot of people DO change in prison, they find religion or peace or whatever and have a total change of heart. I'm not saying they should get a "get out of jail free" card or anything, they should serve their punishment to its full term (which is often life, of course).

Plenty of others will never change, and would go right back out and start killing again, if they could. But the punishment of prison isn't about learning a moral lesson and having to deal with a guilty conscience, it's about having your FREEDOM taken away. Oh sure, you have three square meals a day and a bed, a roof over your head, and all that, which you seem to think is pampering them somehow. But if Mr. Knife Murderer wants to go to a baseball game? Too bad. Can't do it. Wants to see his son? Sorry, no visitors today. Maybe next week. Or what if he wants to go to 7-11 and buy a whole pack of smokes without trading his asshole for just one? Whether he has a guilty conscience or not is irrelevant. I guarantee you he recognizes that he's punished, whether he agrees the punishment is appropriate or not.

And then there is still the matter of innocent people being executed mistakenly. How many mistakes are you willing to accept? How many INNOCENT PEOPLE are you willing to condone the deaths of?

Capital punishment is savage and outdated.