This is an interesting justification, because if the real purpose of capital punishment is “to guarantee the convict will never hurt anyone again” then it’s directed at a subset of society that is already very unlikely to hurt anyone again. The recidivism rate for murder is actually pretty low, especially when the perpetrator is already living on death row. You’re much more likely to be killed by some random schlub on the street than by someone who is already confined in a supermax prison.
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