I have a question: if, for example, somebody who had his family killed by mafiosi or street gangsters doesn’t obtain justice through legal ways and kills the ones responsible for the massacre, or for example a father kills the one who raped and killed his daughter (also only after not having obtained justice through legal means), is it considered first degree murder or second degree murder? If it is first degree, then I don’t agree with you that ALL first degree murderers should be executed.

I know, such cases are few, it’s just I remembered some discussions I had on other forums about Japanese detective stories in which the victims very often are the real villains, while the murderers act out of despair or craziness.
But of course, this is of no relevance to most of the mafia crimes, since there it’s almost always about power or money, not despair. In these cases, I am all for life imprisonment.

@Ivy, I'm not a liberal. I'm a human being. No political party represents who I am. My viewpoints are all over the political spectrum, if you will. I dislike when people have to turn to "Oh you Libs" or "Oh, you Cons".

There's no upside to murdering someone for murdering someone else, the only "upside" would be revenge. We live in such a revenge based society it's sickening. Oh, he hurt my Bobby so he should suffer like my little Bobby did. I thought we were civilized, there's a reason we outlived other species because we're constantly evolving. I'd like to think we're progressing and not regressing.

It's proven that in the US there is more crime in the States that allow Capital Punishment than States that don't allow it.

It all comes down to that Canada doesn't have the Death Penalty and I'm grateful for that. However, I can't see it staying much longer with the likes of Harper (criminal) in power as "our" Prime Minister.

I'm glad we could have this discussion Ivy, it's nice to see the other side of equation.