[sonnyblarney]

"What god is capital punishment meant to appease?"

I have to agree just a shade with the premise.

A lot of punishment is morally oriented, and it's derived from our value system which is headed by 'God', or at least an interpretation of that.

Murderers are executed not just to keep them off the streets, but as a matter of punishment which is fundamentally pleasing to our moral code ... headed by God.

I think old-school capital punishment is at least distantly related to the concept of sacrifice.

Though I wouldn't want to equate the two.