The USA had this myth that as long as we didn’t cause too much pain that executions were ok . The federal government has blown a hole in that myth by allowing painful deaths . That’s what made me freak out as Id allowed myself to fall for the myth . The death penalty is looking like more like sadist revenge than justice
I'm not sure it's that simple.
Justice is life ... for life.
In it's latter years, the US has been trending towards mercy (i.e. no death penalty), rather than justice.
One would question the wisdom of such an approach, ... unless one also recognizes that God's tendency, as portrayed in the scriptures, ... is also towards mercy.
So ... the US is currently modeling after God in its approach towards criminality (i.e. sin), ... though, like God, we find it to be the more difficult path.
For one, the response of the criminalized to such a plan is, at best, mixed. Some (perhaps most) don't positively respond to such grace offered ... leaving us with prisons which are, perhaps primarily, warehouses of the reprobate.
But some do receive the gift of reformation ... and succeed in turning their lives around. There are, it is widely concluded, many too few for all of the expense and effort.
But, once again, to do so is to emulate the Heavenly Father, Who ultimately allowed His Son to die for the few who would receive the gift of grace, ... while most spurn the gift.
I think that capital punishment is rarely an issue of revenge, ... as it is rarely if ever that the wronged get to exercise vengeance. It is, more typically, an issue of justice, rather than grace.
Though, it is likely a true saying, that those most in need of grace for their own sins, ... are also those most apt to demand justice for the sins of others ...