I oppose the death penalty on these grounds. Yes, some particularly heinous crimes were committed, but I remember the case of a guy called John Button, in Australia, who was sentenced to death, in 1962 (commuted to life with hard labor), and, in 2002, was found innocent, and another man, Edgar Cooke, confessed to the murder on the day before he was hanged. The victim's parents refuse to accept this fact, despite scientific evidence proving it.

The death penalty can be used, and the vengeful former president proved this only weeks before leaving office, for political reasons. (There was a case, in Australia, where Ronald Ryan, the last man hanged, was executed because it was an election year and the Victorian State Premier, Henry Bolte, wanted to be seen to be tough on crime, so he pushed for it to go ahead).