> Just one little problem with the 'oh it's lawful' argument. The Holocaust was perfectly legal under the laws of the Reich. Pol Pot's acions in Cambodia were perfectly legal under Cambodian law. Need I go on?
>
> Zarn"either it's bad or it ain't, make your mind up"iwoop

It's bad. I'm not sure whether this is similar in the US and elsewhere, but in Germany murder is legally defined as deliberately killing a person out of low motives, such as hate, greed and so on, as opposed to self defence and that sort of thing. The intent in death penalty is to achieve justice, which does not belong in the former category. The debate here is whether the death penalty really is justice.