Death Penalty - Ye or Ne? - also why terrorists are better than murderers

[DiceyGrammar]

But how does giving individual families closure benefit the government or society as a whole?

Justice doesn't just need to be done, it also needs to be seen to have been done.

If you don't acknowledge the need for retribution and satisfying the needs/wants of the victims (within reason), you undermine the legitimacy of the legal system as a whole. People will start to question the effectiveness of the official systems, and turn instead to unofficial systems (e.g. vigilantism) or even not seek any form of justice at all. It isn't restricted to individual families or victims either; the legal system seeks to satisfy the retributive needs of the wider community.

As an example, you can see this operating in any police force. Police legitimacy is a massive concern because once it's undermined, people stop seeking help, cooperating with police and reporting crime.

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[Tayasaurus]

Luke really liked repeating himself huh

He was afraid of people misinterpreting his stuff

[Harm94]

Luke really liked repeating himself huh

Apparently.

But how does giving individual families closure benefit the government or society as a whole?
It's not about prevention, I'll admit. It's about saving money.
Perhaps limiting the appeals and finding cheaper ways to kill people.
Ultimately shooting someone costs but a few cents, it's all the legal bullstuff they have to go though first that takes time and money.
If you can cut that down then it's far cheaper to kill someone than to pay for them to live in prison for a lifetime.

I think housing those prisoners will cost more in the long run. Killing one man vs Imprisoning a man for a year, well killing them would cost a lot more. Then think of the cost it takes to house a man in prison for a lifetime plus all the other prisoners. So multiply the cost of one man to house a man for a year in prison with the total prison population in the us, and then multiply the amount it costs to execute one man and then multiply that by the amount of people who have been executed this year in the US. Then compare the two numbers and decide which one costs more.

Not arguing whether or not its better to execute a man, I'm just trying to get people look at the big picture.