Act of killing as a punishment?

Answer 1

A:Killing a person as punishment for a crime demeans the state, achieves nothing as a deterrent to others and creates the risk that the executed person is later found to have been innocent, arguably resulting in the state itself being guilty of homicide. Most advanced nations today have long since abolished te death penalty.

A person who, in the absence of a legal sentence of death passed by a court of law, kills another as a punishment for a perceived wrong is guilty of murder. This is true, no matter what the preceived wrong is, or how strong the evidence against that person. Most such killings involve one of two reasons. The first is killing of one criminal by another criminal as punishment. The second is killing by religious extremists for religious reasons. In this case, the alleged wrong that is being punished could be as innocent as leaving the religion, or it could be for attacks on followers of the murderer's religion.