Yea Therapist, I respect your opinion/view and all, but I think more effort should be spent in finding ways to reform rather then punish, it's widely believed among psychiatrists that punishment is counter-active whereas reform is helpful. Lot's of statistics point to lack of education being one of the prime reasons behind re-offenders, and first time offenders as well.
Also, what about murders of passion? Your wife gets brutally raped in an alley...and you track the guy down the next day and shoot him, do you deserve to die?
I guess I don't see the point in it, the death penalty can't be a punishment, since punishment is aimed at changing behaviour...and it's not a deterrent (statiscally proven), so what is it really doing? It doesn't stop people from killing people, and it can't change them. I think that's my problem understanding the need for it.