I’d add a third issue. In a democracy, your social systems are the agency of the people as a whole. We collectively bear responsibility for those systems. By condoning the death penalty we embrace cold blooded killing for revenge, when it is done as a collective. Those in favour of the death penalty are thinking about the perpetrator and why we want to hurt that person, and not about the mental health of our society and why we should not be debasing ourselves. When I’ve discussed these matters with USAns, this issue is usually ignored or dismissed, and I think that says a lot about the condition of that society.
I’d add a third issue. In a democracy, your social systems are the agency of the people as a whole. We collectively bear responsibility for those systems. By condoning the death penalty we embrace cold blooded killing for revenge, when it is done as a collective. Those in favour of the death penalty are thinking about the perpetrator and why we want to hurt that person, and not about the mental health of our society and why we should not be debasing ourselves. When I’ve discussed these matters with USAns, this issue is usually ignored or dismissed, and I think that says a lot about the condition of that society.