An unexpected debate over the death penalty erupted in a Sacramento auditorium yesterday (Tue 6/30). "It was clearly a one sided debate," The Sac Bee reports. Out of 100 people, only 2 were supportive of the death penalty. A couple of weeks ago The Sac Bee also reported on capital punishment, where Elisabeth Semel cited an editorial in an Oregon newspaper. She writes: 

"It urged that while 'investment in education is about the future, and it is about hope,' investment in the death penalty 'is about final reckoning, an admission of gross failure.'"

Admission of failure, to me, is a great way to put it. You may have experienced a physical health consciousness at one point, in which you realized that treating the symptoms of a disease is futile; the disease itself must be dealt with. That's what the death penalty is: a symptom to a much deeper-rooted sociological problem. To eradicate insane criminals they must be understood. Putting them to death is equivalent to ignoring an ailment using drugs (pharmaceuticals). Only in one case, your practice is typically only hurting yourself.

Ethically, of course, it can be argued indefinitely that if you had ultimate knowledge- some would say: if you were God- well, that has some footing, however fanciful it may actually be. But the reality is that to take another life without this said “ultimate knowledge” involves a very active imagination in order to justify such judgment.

If you're unconcerned ethically, you may take comfort to know that financially- it can be argued- capital punishment is counterproductive to the state's current economic struggles, as reported below.