Moral Inversion
The death penalty is not for the sake of deterring others, not for the satisfaction of the family of the victim, not for society to defend itself, and not so that we can get vengeance. It is for the murderer: until he stands on the brink of his own mortality, he will never be able to understand what it is he has taken away from someone else. Execution is an aid for the murderer's needful introspection, an instrument to sharpen his focus and brighten his vision of himself.