Atheists, the death penalty and abortion...

[ideologue08]

You're begging the question. Why should we seek to modify, why not execute them?

The question was 'Why can't the death penalty be a punishment?'. I fail to see how I did not answer it, or in what way it was question-begging.

Perhaps you should consider that your real question might be 'Why can't the death penalty be a deterrant'; to which I would say, although it doesn't seem to be statistically, there's no reason, in principle, that it could not be. Perhaps if it was swift and certtain enough, it would be an effective deterrant.

No; my question was why can't the death penalty be a punishment? The answer is of course it can be a punishment. There is no reason why a country cannot execute murderers as a punishment for what they have done.