IMO, criminal sentencing (prison, incarceration, deportation, even execution) is not about punishment or about rehabilitation. It is about separation. It is about removing a harmful participant in a society from the society they are intent and onto which they are willing to inflict harm. To that end, if a society chooses that the ultimate removal or distancing is acceptable, then they have the ability and the right to decide when and under what circumstances they will permanently remove someone who is a danger to that society by making it impossible for that individual to EVER have a chance of interacting with it. I say that a society has such a right. But I believe if and when a society makes that choice, and how they make that choice, under what circumstances or conditions they exercise that ability, that those details open up that society for review, discussion, and even condemnation by their peers (other societies around the world). In other words, I think that any nation can "choose to use capital punishment" but that choice (and the details of the choice) speaks a great deal about the values, ethics, and reasoning of the society. For example. In 2011 in Norway, a man killed 77 people to (in his own words) "make a statement". He was found responsible, competent and guilty of the crimes of which he was charged. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison. I believe that one incident "says" a great deal about Norway, its social values, its ideas of justice, and how it sees itself. Another example. In the same year, 2011 in Iran 360 people were executed by the state. Capital crimes (capable of receiving the death penalty) include; murder, -blam!-, pedophilia, sodomy (homosexuality), drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism, and treason. I believe that 360 executions out of a population of 75 million "says" a great deal about Iran, its social values, its ideas of justice, and how it sees itself. One last example. In, 2011 in the US 43 people were executed by the state. The only capital crime (capable of receiving the death penalty) is for aggravated murders committed by mentally competent adults. I believe that 43 executions out of a population of 310 million "says" a great deal about the US, its social values, its ideas of justice, and how it sees itself. For me, it is not a binary issue. Human interaction is never as simple as "this or that", positive or negative, right or wrong. To attempt to make it a binary choice is to eliminate the concept of justice and turn human behavior into a "if this, then that" program. We are not bits and bytes, we do not operate solely on logic or predictably. We have to make choices and our choices speak about who we are. We need to accept what our actions say about us and if we are not happy with what they say, we should alter what we do.