@IRonMaN  

I never have figured out why the most ardent right-to-life adherents are often the most vigorous defenders of capital punishment. But then, the Pope hasn’t been able to explain that one either. There does seem to be a historical connection between executioners and tax collection, Wikipedia tells us:

“Many executioners were professional specialists who traveled a circuit or region performing their duty, because executions were rarely very numerous. Within this region, a resident executioner would also administer non-lethal physical punishments, or apply torture. In medieval Europe, to the end of the early modern period, executioners were often knackers, since pay from the rare executions was not enough to live off. (A knacker is a person who removes and clears animal carcasses from private farms or public highways and renders the collected carcasses into by-products such as fats, tallow, glue, gelatin, bone meal, soap, bleach and animal feed.)

“In medieval Europe executioners also taxed lepers and prostitutes, and controlled gaming houses. They were also in charge of the latrines and cesspools.”

When we follow the traditions of China and Saudi Arabia, I think we should at least do some accounting of the human-resource cost. For every execution, tell us how much government time – mostly from lawyers and judges – was used for the conviction and appeals. My estimate is that the equivalent of 100 staff-years were involved. So the system takes away parts of many lives. Wouldn’t those resources find better use if we just started a colony for convicts, like England did with Australia? Maybe Greenland is available. Or there’s always Guantanamo.