Capital Punishment, or "Legalised Murder"

Hey, seeing as I have nothing more apt to write about, I'm going to do my best to sincerely criticise one of the staunch policies utilised by two of my favourite countries, America and China. Also, before I forget, good job for polluting our atmosphere with all those greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances guys, just great work.
Back on track, I want to talk about how moronic capital punishment really is. I admit, at face value, it seems like a considerable option. Someone kills another person, the punishment is them dying as well. 1+1=2. Well, okay, let's look at the specific arguments that pro-capital punishment lobbyists have come up with.

1. Punishment

Fine, this seems fair. Death is a pretty nasty punishment. Or is it? Think about it, a few days or weeks of awful fear, and then...nothing. Because you're dead. Being dead isn't a punishment, or a reprieve, it's nothing. When you're dead, you don't feel anything. So it's not really a punishment at all. I admit, the death of the victim will deny them their future, and all associated pleasures, but the death of the criminal won't be denying him a great life, will it? The alternative (which I condone) is life imprisonment (parole is subjective). That, compared to a bit of fear and 50 years rotting in the ground, is a considerably greater degree of punishment.

2. Safety of the Public

Another feasible point, if you happen to live in the 1800's and don't have a justice system that is perfectly capable of keeping the public safe by locking the perpetrator up in prison for a long time. But I suppose just killing the guy costs a lot less, so hell, let's do that.

3. Retribution (revenge)

Let's not sugar the pill by calling it retribution, a major argument for the death penalty is revenge. That guy killed your brother/son/friend, so you should be able to kill him back. Well, if anyone has a better example of Christians picking out Bible passages to suit their feelings, let me know. Usually it's "turn the other cheek", or "thou shalt not kill", but whenever it suits them they break out the Old Testament "eye for an eye" shit. What happened to forgiveness? I know it isn't easy, but for God's sake if you advocate killing someone you're just as bad as he was.

4. Deterrence

Give me a break. Despite the fact that innumerable studies show that having a death penalty doesn't put people off killing each other, the alternative of life imprisonment isn't much of a better option. If someone has a gun in their hand and someone they want to kill on the other end, they aren't going to be weighing up the subtle differences between spending the rest of their life in a wooden box in the ground or a 10' x 6' box above the ground.

5. No possibility of Rehabilitation.

Listen, I've seen a man in prison who killed another man over 30 years ago, as a florid racist and homophobe. Now, after nearly half a century in prison, he want to be paroled so that he can further his interest in book binding. No one person is constant, and just because the circumstances they found themselves in that led to them killing someone occurred, it doesn't mean that it will happen again.

Look, murderers need to be punished. Hell yes, of course they do. I just think that there are better ways to punish them than to murder them. Honestly, in this "civilised" society, can we not find a way to teach our offenders the error of their actions and encourage them to change their ways? I know, it sounds like a sermon, but come on. There's something about death that makes me think that it shouldn't be induced by anyone, for any reason. No crime, no matter how awful, deserves death. Every single aim of capital punishment can be attained to further and more efficient extent by keeping the offender alive.

As for those countries which use the death penalty for non-fatality related crimes, such as drug-trafficking, homosexuality, or "political deviance", I have a message for them. If you're doing this in the name of a God, then here's some good luck from me. Because if there is a God, you're damn sure going to need luck when he judges your disgusting, pathetic, warped selves.