It is probably the fact that capital punishment is accepted as necessary, and yet instinctively felt to be wrong, that gives so many descriptions of executions their tragic atmosphere. Supporters of the death penalty will never be able to see beyond the satisfaction of personal revenge to the wider effects on society. A society that practises capital punishment is effectively teaching hate and violence. Inevitably that is the message that seeps out of the chamber through the prison gates and enters the hearts and minds of people. Every judicial death sends a more chilling message than any horrific mass murder committed by a lone perpetrator because the state is seen to be endorsing murder as an everyday solution.
Death becomes a country's creed and society becomes a little less human with every execution.
I have read a couple of the pro-death penalty comments by various people that you posted on your site. The amount of ignorance and primitiveness displayed is scary. Your argumentation is very sound and understanding, searching for a real solution to existing problems. I am strongly opposing it, and I can say that for most of my life I was glad to life in societies that have come to evolve to a more civilized nature than that currently displayed in the United States. I have been thought over and over again that liberal thinking and attitudes are the only guarantee for progress in human society.