Discriminating the death penalty?

[TG]

The guy I most respected in my life once told me, "Life isn't fair, but some people try to be......" Life isn't fair, a lot of people aren't just or compassionate or fair......But some people try to be that way. The person I mentioned above could be put in a room full of lairs, and he would still be honest. Because that was what was inside him.
The Jeffery Dahmer's of this world deserve all you said, but the judge who stands over him can be a fair, just and compassionate person who never loses his humanity.
And that what differentiates us from them. They lose their humanity, and we do not.
I think of it like the religious idea of Grace. The religious idea is that we don't deserve it because of our "sinfulness", but because of God's compassion he grants it to people because of that he holds important inside of him. I think you show grace to people like Dahmer, you strive to emulate God. Follow his example.
On a practical side, I remember being 18, with a tough ass friend of mine, who was growing up faster than I was; and getting hot and bothered over some pain in the ass big mouth. My friend said to me, "Great. We had 1 animal in the room. Now we got 2 animals. What you need with an animal is a man."
There are people who treat you nice if you are nice to them, and mean if you treat them mean. There are other people who get up in the morning decent human beings, and when they go to bed they are still that decent person.
I respect people like that. They never give me reason not to respect them.
My experience with morality is not like movies. In the movies the good get their just desserts. My experience with morality is that it is a costly business. If you try to maintian a certain moral integrity, it costs you. Morality and decency aren't cheap or a reward: the people who maintain it day to day have earned it.
Psychologically, I understand the healthiest people are "integrated", which means what the think is what they feel which is what they believe, which is what they say, which is what they do. Otherwise known as emotional integrity.
Which boils down to: if you believe in morality and justice and decency, than that is how you act
TG
P.S. I have kind of a philosophy about this. It that this world didn't come with, or now has, decency, humanity, fair, or compassion. Decency, humanity, fair, compassion resides in the hearts of some people, and they bring it to the world. If you want to find decency and compassion in the world, look into the hearts of the people around you, and you will find it there. In some. Not others.