Regardless of how horrific their crimes were we can never really be certain enough of their guilt to kill them. Nor should we give our government power to kill its citizens. I don't know how anyone can believe the death penalty to be a good idea.
1. Look at the countries America is in company with in allowing capital punishment - it's not a list any country should want to be a part of.
2. Imagine yourself as an innocent person on death row. It's very likely there have been people in that situation[1]. Do you still think it should be allowed?
Regardless of how horrific their crimes were we can never really be certain enough of their guilt to kill them
That's a strange thing to say categorically. So if we have a lot of witnesses, video, a manifesto of motive, physical evidence, etc... we can't be certain enough to feel that someone should be permanently removed from the world?
IMO no. Witnesses can lie, video can be manipulated, physical evidence can be tampered with. Obviously we can be very close to certain but unless we are 100% certain (which I don't think is possible) killing someone is a big risk.
> Then again, these people wantonly killed others (as judged by juries and appeals judges and governors).
Did they? Or did they have the misfortune of, say, being black?
Attempting to excuse the barbarism of the state and its documented tendency to murder and imprison-for-life people who are Not White just for the fun of it by appealing to those monsters under the bed is fucked.
1. Look at the countries America is in company with in allowing capital punishment - it's not a list any country should want to be a part of.
2. Imagine yourself as an innocent person on death row. It's very likely there have been people in that situation[1]. Do you still think it should be allowed?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution