Subject: Re: Federal death penalty
The very rare “wrong” (and yes, it is inevitable) is balanced by the societal satisfaction/retribution/justice of getting rid of Ted Bundy and similar, terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and similar, and family annihilators like John List and other egregious murderers rather than have them hang around painting pictures and enjoying another 40 years of life on the taxpayers dime.

When I was younger, I was more in line with your thoughts.

But as I get older, the thought of accepting the killing an innocent “wrong” person in the name of societal satisfaction/retribution/justice haunts me more and more. The Gandalf (yes, I know he’s fictional) quote earlier in the thread has stuck with me for decades.

Also (maybe I’ve watched Shawshank too many times), prison doesn’t look like a very pleasant place to “enjoy” oneself. I do pencil sketches but I’m not sure they’d let me do that in prison. Anyone familiar with John Wick knows he can kill multiple people with a pencil. And forget playing my guitar as I could hang myself with the strings (Dirty Dozen). I guess I could read a lot more, but no occasional cigar or glass of cognac or dozens of other activities that make life worth living.