Nobody can be permitted to kill. We must have a firm moral bedrock. But that must include our government. There are people who have done terrible things. Jesus spent his life hanging out with people who were marginalized, those whom others had thrown away.
Every human being is so much more than the worst thing that person has ever done.
Whenever a human being is killed, we have lost a universe which cannot be replaced. We must probe our image of God. There is an important line from Saint Basil that is almost buried in the film version of Dead Man Walking . And alternatives are available. When I came out of the execution chamber on the night Patrick Sonnier was executed, I knew I now had a mission.