If the death penalty is not related to the level of violence in prisons, what relevance does it have to protecting prison populations?
Villain though he was, Bin Ladin at least had a cause. Lots of them have none except that they enjoy killing.
There are people in prisons who are killers and either admit they’ll kill again (Ted Bundy, for example) or are determined to be that way by the shrinks who examine them. (Charles Manson, for example)
The death penalty, in the case of someone who would otherwise go ahead and kill someone, absolutely does reduce the crime level.
Here’s a love letter from Bundy:
"I just liked to kill, I wanted to kill.”
“You learn what you need to kill and take care of the details…Its like changing a tire…The 1st time you’re careful…By the 30th time, you can’t remember where you left the lug wrench.”
“You feel the last bit of breath leaving their body. You’re looking into their eyes. A person in that situation is God!”
Now, if there were enough supermax prisons in every country to hold those kinds of people, that would be great. But there aren’t; not even in the U.S., or not yet. That’s why I believe JPII also intended that the prison system be reformed.
One thing is for sure about Bundy, though. He won’t kill again because he was executed.