The Stella awards!!! you gotta read this.

[Andromeda18_]

I've read (well... skimmed through) what everybody's been saying and while I agree with what was said against the death penalty I see things in a much simpler and forward way. Why do we punish murderers? Because we believe it is moraly wrong to kill someone, right? If we didn't think it was wrong we wouldn't want to punish them. Then, if we think killing someone is wrong why is the death penalty even used? You're doing the exact same thing as the people you're killing. Having the law on your side doesn't make it moraly right, killing a person is still wrong. The only case in which I'm in favour of killing someone is in self-defense. If I have to choose between me or the person who's trying to harm me, I'll choose me and I shouldn't be blamed for that. Of course, it has to be real self-defense, one has to prove it, it can't be murder desguised as self-defense. And don't even say that the death penalty is similar to self-defense because it isn't. Putting someone to death because he/she might escape and kill again is preventive punishment (you're killing a murderer because he MIGHT kill again if he isn't put to death) not a form of self-defense.

Going back to the 'mentally unstable criminals' subject. I just wanted to add that I don't condone temporary insanity. Someone who is truly mentally diseased isn't really responsible for what he/she does but a person who kills because he/she lost control (aka temporary insanity) is, in my opinion, responsable for the deed. It doesn't mean I think that person should be judged as harshly as a serial killer but that's exactly why things are judged on a case by case basis.