I have often said that I oppose the death penalty in large part because I do not trust the government enough to believe they can administer just trials and sentences. Besides, the state is in no position to act as a proxy for the victim to seek revenge.

First, if there is no victim, there is no crime, and the jails are full of people who have harmed no one even if the trials were entirely on the up-and-up under the "law."

Second, numerous death penalties have been overturned, sometimes posthumously, because the courts are corrupt and eager for conviction rates over real justice, especially when the prosecutors are almost never held accountable for their actions.

Third, if there is a victim, restitution should be the goal, not revenge. Imagine if she had spent 30 years doing something productive to pay for her incarceration and to support the family of her victim. Instead, victims are taxed for warehousing prisoners.