Hmmm...tough one. I'm on the fence; I understand the need for the death penalty but I despise having it institutionalized in government.

In my mind, the death penalty is not about revenge, or justice, or deterence...it is about eliminating threats to innocents. If a disease kills people, we contain it and destroy it...we don't debate its right to exist as a fellow life form, or whether or not it was genetic evolution that caused it. The same is true of murderers and those who commit crimes worse than murder; unless we can discover a method of rehabilitation that will reduce the odds of a repeat offense to equal to that of any other person committing a first offense, it is criminal NOT to take actions that decrease the danger to another innocent. There is no leeway for insanity, or excuses other than defense of life (personally, I don't believe any sane people are capable of committing a non-defensive murder anyways).

On the other hand, governments, in my personal opinion, are inherently unjust (acting and existing for the sole purpose of forcing individuals to perform acts against their will). Governments should never have the authority to institutionalize violence (although all governments do). So I'm left with the only option that individuals, as vigilantes, are the only ones justified in killing threats. Which hosts a problem or two of its own