The "justice" system in the US and many other countries isn't even trying to be "right", they are just processing through people. If they were truly concerned about justice, we wouldn't have stories of people who can't afford lawyers sitting on death row for crimes there's no evidence they committed. It is just another example of theater.
Personally, I oppose the death penalty on practical grounds. It costs more than life in prison, it eliminates the possibility of reversing a false conviction, and it has no real advantage, so why do it?
it is about justice. not vengeance. not revenge. justice. if you burn my house to the ground, you go to prison, I sue you and take your property. that is just.
if you intentionally and with malice kidnap, rape, beat, shoot and then bury alive a 19 year old girl (like Clayton Lockett did). then you don't get to breathe the same air as the rest of us. you don't get to go outside, you don't get your prison tv. you get a needle and an unmarked grave. it is what is fair.
Every one of these god damn articles on the death penalty, THEY NEVER SPEND ANY FUCKING TIME TALKING ABOUT THE VICTIMS. They have a fancy chart for how 15,000 murders were executed. Do they have a fancy chart to count the victims? Do they have a fancy chart to show how many of the victims were raped before they were murdered? Do they have a chart to show how many victims cried out for their mother while being tortured? No, because you can't undermine the death penalty unless you turn the victims into faceless abstractions.
The last time Bill Richard saw his son alive was right after the boston marathon bombing. The bomb exploded and 8 year old Martin Richard was still alive but gravely wounded. Bill had to leave his EIGHT YEAR OLD SON TO DIE ALONE so he could rush his seriously wounded daughter to the hospital. Bill may have advocated against the death penalty for Tsarnaev, but no parent who has experienced that should be denied witnessing Tsarnaev's death if they so chose. It isn't about revenge, it is about justice.