Opposition to the death penalty is very much like opposition to eating meat.....it is often based on reasoning that has little relevance to societal needs or practicality. The ONLY really good argument against it is that sometimes totally innocent people get convicted.

In prisons (and, sadly, out of prisons) there are many, many people who, in this increasingly chaotic world, serve little function other than to make work for law enforcement and provide grist for the mill that churns out crime movies and keeps Jerry Springer in business. We need to deal with this soon, or I predict, the sentiment against the death penalty will be tempered by sentiment in favor of safety and fewer tax dollars going to house those who cannot be trusted with freedom.

(No...this does NOT mean I am advocating wholesale executions of everyone I don't like, only that I don't think some abstract notion of 'the value of human life' is going to remain the overriding principle in a society where it is disdained by so many already.)