I do beleive in restorative justice but I do wonder ocassioanlly if we haven't gone too far into the concept that vengeance has zero place in justice

Life imprisonment is cheaper (in the US) for the taxpayer than execution. Morally, I think the death penalty does not have a leg to stand on. Even in the most egregious cases, who truly has the right to end a life? Can any justice system be 100% accurate? If there is even a slim chance that an innocent could be murdered by the state, the state should not murder. It's valid to have a visceral reaction to horrific crimes like this, but to advocate for murdering even of a guilty party just doesn't mesh with at least my ethics

To punish them lol

It isn't clear to me if execution is actually cheaper or not. And the 8th amendment effectively bans the simple methods of killing. It needs to be sterile and mostly painless for most people.

Would I like to make an exception for pedophiles, where we castrate them, physically and chemically? Yes. But we've agreed as a society that we won't dole out cruel punishments as a cost for ensuring our government stays in check. I generally prefer lifetime imprisonment without parole for two reasons.

1. There were a lot of executions where, when we went back to look at them with newer technology for DNA evidence, we realized the accused was actually innocent, and the criminal got away. You can imagine there was a racial component as well which meant death sentences were assigned more often to non white people than white people. It would be hubris for us to think that our systems are perfect now. Another technological development in the future could exonerate people we think are definitely guilty. I don't want any more innocent people to die where we realize their innocence too late.

2. Being locked up for life sounds like a fate worse than depth, especially if it's solitary confinement. Let them rot and go and insane.