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On the one hand, on an intellectual and moral level, I believe the death penalty is wrong.
On the other hand, a sniper in my town a couple years ago victimized me and my family for a month or two. We stayed inside for a couple of months for fear of being shot. We were the lucky ones. They caught the sniper. Malvo, the asshole. You've probably heard of him. He's a kid. He's most likely insane. He's going to be put to death. I don't care.
On an intellectual level, I think he shouldn't be put to death, because it's not consistent with my beliefs. But in my gut, I don't care that he's going to die. I'm not looking forward to his death. I'd be equally happy if he spent the rest of his life in a maximum security mental facility or prison.
If I were called to be on a jury in his case, I would admit my bias and remove myself from the jury.
Similarly, I believe emotions have no place in an argument about whether the State should kill its citizens. That's a lynch mob mentality. We are better than that.
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