Actions that someone takes after committing a barbaric act do not undo the damage that was done.

Neither does his death.

Those two individuals are still dead, and he needed to face the ramifications for his actions.

Which no one denies. Th ramifications should have been life in prison without a chance for parole.

I don't oppose the death penalty because nobody deserves to be killed. I oppose it because our justice system isn't up to determining who does and who doesn't.

There are too many arbitrary factors that make the difference between death penalty and life. The race, sex, and gender of the victim and the accused; the political ambition of the prosecutor; the geographic location of the crime; and the resources of the accused.

And this wonderful system wastes millions and millions of dollars that could address some of the root causes of crime and violence.

Did killing him bring them back? No? Then what's the benefit?

It better be a pretty big fuckin benefit if you're okay with our government having the authority to kill citizens. Cuz you know, the government can totally be trusted to not abuse power and authority...

Does killing him bring back the people he killed?

Every government is imperfect.

No human being should be executed by the state.

There is no difference in justice by locking them up for life, and more importantly it costs less, and can be undone if an injustice is later identified.

Executing him accomplishes nothing. Families of victims have long said that executions did not make them feel better. In some cases, they have campaigned to stop executions. More death solves nothing, and we as humans can and should be better than that.

The death penalty is wrong. Period. There are always other solutions. That's where the justice system fails.

Yes, maybe he did deserve to die. But I'll always oppose the death penalty on principle.

I find it hard to say that the value to society of killing him was greater than the value he provided cutting hair at the prison.

It comes down to what you feel the purpose of our justice system is, including capital punishment.

My personal opinion is that, despite its name, capital punishment shouldn't be thought of as a punishment. I feel that we should use the death penalty or life in prison when we feel that a person can't ever be allowed back into society, and it's more of a societal judgement which of those two measures we take.

I think in all cases, if we could heal a person so that they'd never repeat a crime again, that's the better course. The reality is that most really horrible crimes stem from some kind of mental illness. If we could rehabilitate the people, it seems like that's better for everyone.

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.

-JRR Tolkien