We do many irrational things.  In prisons, great efforts are made to prevent suicide, but why?  Some spend extensive time obsessing about means of execution when those being killed probably could care less whether it was hanging, drugs, or high velocity rounds through the heart.  My concern with the death penalty stems from the fear that the taking of one man's life by the state lessons the sanctity  of  every human's life.  If we teach that terminating a life is justifiable and acceptable in one case, what do we say to the individual who believes that someone else must be made to die.  How do we demotivate war when we are taught that killing is okay under certain circumstances?