I am sure that many people who claim to be compassionate. I am also that those same people, or many of those same people, have prayed for the deaths or executions of people such as Timothy McVeigh and Jeffery Domler. Mencius also says that the feeling of right and wrong is the origin of wisdom. To condemn people for ignorance will not solve the problem. To condemn those that commit crimes will not stop crime from occurring, it will only remove the problem from society temporarily.
People learn by example.
Only by continued, vigilant benevolence will there be resolution. Mencius writes that only if the four elements, compassion, shame, consideration, and an understanding of right and wrong, will all humanity possess benevolence, righteousness, good manners, and wisdom. All of humanity has the beginnings of these four things therefore all of humanity is capable of achieving the ultimate results. Because of my personal belief that no one person is perfect enough to grant life or to take life, I am opposed to capital punishment. Furthermore I feel that often the decision to sentence someone to death is made in response to an anger fed by outrage at what the convicted person has done.