Here's a bumper sticker I saw: "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?" Like many other sayings and slogans, this one manages to misrepresent one side of an argument in order to make it look like an unsophisticated reason that is obviously not what most people want.

Let me rebut this, without giving the other side a chance to reply. We don't kill people to show that killing people is wrong. Killing people is wrong, that is already self-evident, and only governments should be allowed to kill people. People who don't understand that killing is wrong are not going to change just because we kill other killers. Capital punishment is a deterrent, it's supposed to make you think twice before you kill someone or commit some other high crime.

As I was looking for the exact quote on the web, I came across someone's post against capital punishment. Here are a few things he wrote, which I will assume are correct:

"First race. Blacks constitute 11% of the population, but 36% of those executed since 1976 (and, no, contrary to some opinions blacks do not committ a disproportionate share of murders). The death penalty is much more likely to be imposed if the victim is black vs white."

There are two possible cases: either we are executing too many blacks or not executing enough whites. It's probably the second case, although there are equivalent punishments to death. Keep in mind that I don't value life as highly as most people. Quality of life is as important as life itself.

"Second, cost. It costs about $2 million to execute someone. Incarceration for 40 years costs about $800,000. The differential is even higher if we do present-value calculations."

Executing someone is expensive because of all the appeals and court time. Lawyer fees make up a lot of that, and I'm not going to argue that we should be paying people less. This is a "problem" of the justice system in that it can take a long time to finally put a case to rest, which means it costs that any long case will cost a lot.

If we put everyone in jail for life, those appeals would go up, and the cost would go up so I don't think there would be any savings in the long run. The solution is to not let people appeal so much. Whether that violates people's Constitutional Rights I'll leave that as an argument for the reader, but I don't think it would.

"Third, innocence. Since 1976, a total of 75 people have been released from death row, and most of those released outright, because of new evidence. How many innocents have we killed."

I've stated once that killing three good people for one bad person is a good ratio. People who do something bad enough to warrant capital punishment are really few and far between. So if we execute a lot of good people to make sure that a few bad people die, I can live with that (or die too if I happen to be one of those good). Fortunately, I think the ratio is much better than 3 to 1.

"Fourth, uneven application. There are 12 states that don't have the death penalty. Certain states (Texas in particular) are much more likely to impose it."

This is a States' Rights issue. People in those states pass those laws, and if my state says we're going to do this, I don't want the federal government butting in. Every state has slightly (or moderately) different cultural values and needs. Saying it's not fair that some states are more heavy handed executing people is like saying it's not fair that some countries are more heavy handed executing people. It doesn't make sense to me to override the soverign rights of a state or country in order to implement something that only some people think is "fair".

"Finally, a quote:

The real security for human life is to be found in a reverence for it. If the law regarded it as inviolable, then the people would begin also so to regard it. A deep reverence for human life is worth more than a thousand executions in the prevention of murder; and is, in fact, the great security for human life. The law of capital punishment while pretending to support this reverence, does in fact tend to destroy it.

-English Friend John Bright, 1868"

So incarcerating people means you can do it too? Taxing people means you should also do it? If murder is self-evidently wrong, then no one would do it in the first place. You have to think for yourself. Do what you think is right, not what other people think is right. The government is not here to set an example, it's here to provide for the common good.