I'm for the death penalty, but I'm a bit muddled as to when it should be imposed. After all, as pointed out, the justice system is not perfect.
Sure, people can be found innocent later. So institute a waiting time before the penalty is imposed. (Already in place)
But when should someone be given the death penalty? Well, you never know if someone can be rehabilitated. Maybe the person is just mentally unstable.
Then again, there are some people who do crimes so heinous or so numerous, that their sentences are already "lifetime with no chance of parole" or "5 consecutive life sentences". This is probably where I think the death penalty should come into play. Do we really need people going into jail at 25, and living until 95, living in the court system without hope of getting out? At this point, it's a drain on taxpayer dollars, since they just sit there getting fed, have a warm place to sleep.. and have to deal with the politics of inmate life (watched a bit too much Oz). Sometimes it's just cheaper to exact the death penalty in those instances.
It's really hard to draw the line on if and when it should be imposed, in my lil head.
