Executing Scott Peterson: So What's Wrong with a Little Retributive Justice?

Everyone who has been deterred from killing their spouses and children by the death sentence of Scott Peterson, raise your hands. That's what I thought. No matter what the arguments, I expect the (dis)incentive effect of capital punishment is small (after all, there are many fates worse than death: e.g., life in Folsom Prison might be worse; and if it is, then the death penalty would have little or no marginal deterrent effect).

Everyone who thinks people who kill their spouses and unborn children should be executed raise your hands. Uh huh. So what we have, here, is a lot of people who think retributive justice is a pretty good idea. I understand that reaction, but not everyone agrees. (link via you-know-who at you-know-where).

But because of the slim potential that a legal or other error might have been committed, I'd want to be damned certain the guy did it before sentencing a convicted criminal to death.