A totally barbaric practice that has nothing to do with justice, but is in place to placate the cranage-loving revenge crowd, those mentally deranged a-wipes. It's sick that the U.S. is the only major developed Western nation that allows the state to murder its citizens for the questionable sake of protecting society-at-large. To begin with, it is cruel and unusual punishment, so, it's unconstitional, and thereby illegal, yet, that hasn't dissuaded institutional murders like Handjob Bush from throwing the switch, with relish. Secondly, any political state that has the power to execute its citizens for any reason whatsoever is a state with too much power. Thirdly, capital punishment has been shown to not only have no deterrent effect on crime, but actually sends out the negative message that extreme violence is justifiable. The deranged illogic that is promoted by this practice is: If the state reserves the right to murder its citizens, then, those citizens, being entities of the state, should have no compunction with killing each other. It's a downward spiral of negative reinforcement. The answer to violence shouldn't be more violence with the governmental seal of approval attached. Finally, advances in DNA technology have lead to many murder convictions, and death sentences, being overturned due to the fact that the authorities, in oink oink and prosecutorial overzealousness and misconduct, got the wrong man. The state of Illinois placed a moratorium on executions when it was found that several condemned men were actually innocent. The same thing held true in Florida. If capital punishment cannot be applied with the absolute certainty of guilt on the part of the condemned, first time and every time, then the practice isn't worth a sh*t.