I do, and not necessarily as the type of 'liberal,' as your language might be suggesting to define or categorize. As a society we have a moral and legal responsibility to protect our fellow citizens, from criminals in our midst, and miscarriages of justice as well. Convictions for a crimes someone is not guilty of are surprisingly frequent in the democratic western world, and their later exposure by the legal process is something we can term the essence of being 'civilized' and 'democratic,' and having the 'civilized' and enlightened opportunity to do so. In most of the world, the legal process is observed with all the attention and detail of a schoolchild's rant in the playground, applied to law, and subsequently applied with the state's force. In China, it's got to the extent where execution has virtually become an industry; the 'people's state,' selling off the organs and body parts of the executed to western wallets as exposed by that renowned 'bleeding-heart liberal' organ the BBC last week. Whilst I at times wish the furnace on the scum of society when they are caught, it is some aspect of our status as being truly civilized as a society that allows a convicted citizen perhaps time to prove they were never guilty of the crime they were guilty of, without being a coffin in the ground. Mr. Ace, you've just been owned! What're you gonna do, now? go off to my stateroom and cry? then look at the poster of grand admiral thrawn on my wall and ask "what would you say?". lol jk. I freely admit that occasionally miscarriages of justice do occur. as supreme court justice oliver wendell holmes once said "this is a court of law, young man, not of justice." sad, but true. here's a little history for you. the death penalty was basically abolished in 1972. it was hastily reinstated 4 years later. why? the number of violent felonies in our country spiked. another problem is the condition of our prisons. they're not for punishment. they've just become another realm of the criminal world, almost a criminal college, if you will. for criminals, "doing a stretch" is a badge of honor. personally, i do believe in restorative justice. this basically means use of things like community service rather than jail, so the criminal learns respect for the community, rather than how to exploit it. prisons should be to hold people who pose a significant danger to the community. the death penalty is simply the extreme end of that. it is a necessary deterrent in our criminal justice system. history demonstrates that conclusively. The best way to describe capital punishment is an unfortunate necessity. Thanks Admiral. you always know waht to say