There is pain on all sides. Most of the murderers I've met are filled with the pain of guilt for what they did, pain for the pain they caused the victims' families and their own families. That's how it should be. But I am there to encourage their conversion, and that can only come about by treating them with respect. Not excusing, not justifying, but making them aware that they, too, can receive God's forgiveness.
Many murderers are severely mentally ill.
I know some of these men. When they take their medication, they are cooperative and likable. Off medication, they are volatile and dangerous. As a legal defense, mental illness is very complicated and seldom succeeds. We should be concerned about the inadequacy of treatment for the mentally ill, about the willingness of society to kill them and about the way they are treated and frequently victimized when incarcerated.