I'm against capital punishment for moral and practical reasons. The moral reasons are well understood so there is no need to post them.

Practically speaking, capital punishment costs too much. Appeals go on for years and payment to lawyers (always more than one) continues through the years in addition to the resources of the Court, Prosecutor’s office, expert witnesses, etc. Capital punishment is one more example of providing taxpayer money to lawyers. It is much less expensive to imprison these people without possibility of parole.

For truly heinous crimes such as those listed by rubicon, I would recommend a new prison located in the Aleutians. Attu Island, near the far end of the chain, housed a Coast Guard station until 2010. The island has both a functional dock with barracks and a 5,800 ft. airstrip. The island is large, 143 sq. miles and uninhabited. This would be Altatraz on steroids – truly escape proof. Lawyers and family could meet with the inmates through state-of-the-art telecommunication systems. No visitors would be allowed on the island. The state governments could pay for it with costs prorated for the number of prisoners to be housed.

This method would get most of the truly dangerous inmates out of the prison system and eliminate the heart of the prison gang movement as a bonus. Our prisons become safer and less a school for criminals.