I agree with gRomoZeka, I think -- at least, I am not morally opposed to the death penalty for murderers (and in some cases, the co-conspirators of murderers). However, I would generally oppose the death penalty for drug dealers and serial rapists and pedophiles and others who may cause great harm, but do not actually kill their victims.

But even though I think it may be morally acceptable and fully civilized for the state to execute murderers, I think that civilized countries should generally regard the death penalty with distaste -- something that should be avoided whenever possible.

The main justification for capital punishment is that if one takes the alternative route -- сажать убийц в тюрьму пожизнено ("to imprison murderers for life") -- then there is a possibility that the killer may take another life. Possibly the life of another prisoner who was in jail for a less violent offense and might have been rehabilitated, or possibly the life of an honest prison guard. He might even escape from prison and kill completely innocent people.

Thus, as the Catholic church argues, capital punishment may possibly be justified in poor countries where the prison system is in shambles and there is a serious danger that a murder will be able to kill again if he is not executed ASAP. But the more advanced and wealthy a country is, and the more secure its prisons are, the less this justification applies.