Quote Originally Posted by Brooker
The support for the death penalty seems to be shrinking in America. My state (Washington) allows the death penalty and recently caught the worst serial killer in American history (Gary Ridgway, aka The Green River Killer) who's been terrorizing this area and a few others since the 1970's. He admitted to killing 48 women and is suspected to have killed many more. However, he avoided the death penalty by giving information on victims the police didn't know about. When that happened, I figured it meant the end of the death penalty in my state because, if you can't justify killing this guy, you can't justify it for anyone. I actually thought it was a great injustice because this man deserved to die.
I would agree to have death penalty for such extreme cases of people killings a large number of human beings, especially if the criminal is caught red-handed and it is absolutely sure that there is no mistake regarding the murder's identity.

I would also agree to have capital punishment for leaders or terrorits, military or religious groups who order the killing of a large number of humans. I wouldn't even condemn the people following the orders in this case, but only the leader(s), even if they haven't killed anybody by themselves.

HOWEVER, let's play the devil's advocate for a while. In the specific case you mentioned above, it seems that the guy was playing a game leaving "clues" about the next victim, like in the best thriller movies. So, what if that guy became the "hero" of a new "true-story" movie that could entertain millions of people around the world for generations ? Wouldn't that compensate at least a little bit for his crimes ? Wouldn't that owe him a life sentence instead of execution ? Well, if you are human you can't ignore the fact the the worst criminals can also have a "positive" impact on society.