are we punishing murderers too much?

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I agree. I find for-profit prisons an absurdity.

I also agree with the idea of giving people a second chance after they screw up badly.

But we need some kind of deterrant, and I agree with Cathylynn that some people are not capable of being rehabilitated.

Depends on who they murdered and why.
If space elves told them to kill the mailman, they need to be in s secure mental health facility away from mailmen.
If they killed to avenge the rape,murder or assault of a family member its understandable why they did it.Not the right choice,but not cold blooded murder.
If they just drive around plugging adults and children they didn't even know,now that's different.
My bio mom worked two of the men's max security units here.
It's purely a profit run business.
They release violent offenders back on the street and keep those that wouldn't offend again.
She was bothered by how they treated an elderly man that was dying of cancer.He wanted out to spend his last days fishing with his grandkids.They refused his request.
If he had been white,had family with money or connections he would have most likely been released.
Instead he is going to die in prison becuse he is poor and black.

Even as a hardhearted conservative capitalist I find the idea of contractor operated prisons abhorrent. As much as I'm anti-government I still believe the penal system should be solely a function of government.

Not only that, there have been documented cases where private prisons bribed judges to convict people and send them to their prisons.

That ought to be a death penalty for both the private prison officials and the judges, but it will never happen.

His sentence brings to closure a dark time in the history of the city of Wilkes-Barre, PA, which is in Luzerne County. He was found guilty in February of racketeering for taking a $1 million kickback from the builder of for-profit prisons for juveniles. Ciavarella who left the bench over two years ago after he and another judge, Michael Conahan, were accused of sentencing youngsters to prisons they had a hand in building. Prosecutors alleged that Conahan, who pleaded guilty last year and is awaiting sentencing, and Ciavarella received kick-backs from the private company that built and maintained the new youth detention facility that replaced the older county-run center.

Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, sent kids to juvenile detention for crimes such as possession of drug paraphernalia, stealing a jar of nutmeg and posting web page spoofs about an assistant principal (3 months of hard time). Some of those sentenced were as young as 10 years old. A mother of one of those sentenced by judge Caivarella lashed out at him after the guilty verdict. Sandy Fonzo’s son, Edward, was a promising young athlete in high school wHis sentence brings to closure a dark time in the history of the city of Wilkes-Barre, PA, which is in Luzerne County. He was found guilty in February of racketeering for taking a $1 million kickback from the builder of for-profit prisons for juveniles. Ciavarella who left the bench over two years ago after he and another judge, Michael Conahan, were accused of sentencing youngsters to prisons they had a hand in building. Prosecutors alleged that Conahan, who pleaded guilty last year and is awaiting sentencing, and Ciavarella received kick-backs from the private company that built and maintained the new youth detention facility that replaced the older county-run center.

I removed the link in the above post to try to avoid the captcha from hell.

It depends on who they are, how they murdered the person, and why.

A crime of passion is different from a cold blooded murder.

A person that kills out of revenge for a terrible wrong against them is different from a person that kills for money, for instance.

Some people kill because they are delusional. Some kill because they lack empathy. Some kill because they are angry in general.

A person that kills for entertainment, or profit, is probably a sociopath or otherwise lacks empathy and is too dangerous to live in society. Executing them is not punishment, in my opinion. It's practical. They will not be rehabilitated and could possibly escape or harm someone else.

Some foolish kid that shoots somebody out of panic during a robbery and later feels remorse can probably be rehabilitated.

It really all needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.