It is less cruel to simply execute someone than to lock them away for the rest of their life.
It isn’t a revenge thing, it is a justice thing. It is the most fair punishment that can be applied, other than doing exactly what the scumbag did back to them.
I get you get caught up on semantics of what if they are innocent, but if we are that caught up on it why jail someone? Why arm cops or the military? They could get it wrong and kill the wrong person.
Some actions deserve death as a punishment. Our system well not perfect is about as good if not better than any that has ever been created.
Examples such as the Mosque shooter in Quebec where there is no doubt who did it is a perfect candidate for execution.
I would also include drug dealers, rapists, and the habitual serious offenders who have no interest in being part of civilized society.
“What if they’re innocent?” isn’t semantics. People have been jailed or even executed for things they didn’t do. Not things where they got off on a legal loophole or technicality, but something they didn’t do. Mail for that is awful, but the day they walk out they can at least have years left and a large cheque. If they’re executed, that’s it, they’re dead, their family doesn’t get to see them again.
You’re completely out to lunch if you can’t see the difference between execution as a sentence for someone who’s safely in custody, after a long court process, and a lawful use of deadly force by police to prevent an immediate risk of death or grievous bodily harm. They are not at all the same- but of course I hardly need to point out that things go wrong for police too. You’re scoring an own goal there.