Moral justification for the execution of criminals of war?

[bennyboy]

Indeed..mistakes happen all the time.  Why, 190 people have had their convictions overturned before we managed to kill them, since 1973, for example.  Seems like that would make for a pretty big wedding party.  Concerned?

Yes. If a large enough portion of the population has feelings about execution being an unnecessary evil, and if the money saved is not a sufficient balance for innocent lives lost, then there's no particularly compelling reason to carry out the executions.

I could probably be convinced to swing the other way-- to value time lived more greatly, and to expect a similar diligence applied to a life sentence-- which to me is very nearly as horrendous as an execution, especially a greatly delayed one.

I'm not that worried about the few lives lost by possible judicial mistakes, though. Like I say, probably tens or hundreds of thousands of medical patients die by borderline malpractice each year-- 190 is a pretty good wedding party, but America has a few yearly Hiroshimas that barely get consideration at all. 49,000 shot to death in 2021? BAH! Political posturing!

49,000 is a lot of 190s. Do you, a gun advocate, toss and turn at night over those deaths? Do you feel the society is losing its moral integrity every time a school gets shot up?