[techweenie]

I used to be generally against it.

What changed my mind was the advent of DNA evidence. If the proof is as close to 100% as humanly possible, I have no problem with the death penalty.

But in the bad old days, it was wrongly applied maybe 20-30% of the time, and that's not good enough for state-sponsored killing.

I have to say, though, that the death penalty is not a deterrent. (Witness Western Europe's murder rates.) The death penalty is a 'weeding out' and it's revenge.