We have better ways to deal with this than execution. Life without parole in maximum security doesn't shrink from the crime, doesn't endanger the public, doesn't reward the criminal, and doesn't pander to fear of the criminal.

I can't help but observe that people who believe in hell are more likely to advocate execution because they believe the person executed will get a "real" hearing in the hereafter, and that everyone gets sorted out there.

I believe we have to seek justice while we're alive. Justice recognizes that people make mistakes, that some people make evil choices, that the public must be protected from the latter, that mob passions are dangerous to individuals, and that all of us can be in error based on what we think we know at the moment.