Well the whole execution thing IS pretty barbaric. In the US it costs more to execute someone than jail them for life. And we've been fucking around for some time debating what is a humane death and what isn't, while a lot of the pro-execution people really sound like they WANT someone to suffer.

Electric chair for example basically boils a person alive; and the cyanide used in a gas chamber is also quite a painful death. Firing squad CAN be fairly quick, but one wonders why is the person shot in the heart rather than in the head that would cause instant painless death? Hanging, when done correctly, is fairly instant and painless. When done incorrectly it leaves a person suffocating to death while hanging on a rope, which is a very painful death. Guillotine, like hanging, is fairly painless when it's done correctly, however the concept is quite barbaric. And there's some suggestion that the human head remains conscious for several seconds after execution-- I read something a while back of a scientist who was sentenced to death by guillotine, he told his assistant he'd keep blinking as long as he could, the assistant recorded 10 or 12 blinks.

Wherever you are from I think has the right idea. Executing people causes more problems than it solves, and creates huge possibility of suffering. I believe there are some people in the world who do deserve to die, but I don't think it should be up to me (or any human or group of humans) to make that determination. We just make too many mistakes.