Equal Opportunity Capital Punishment

Jonathan raises a fascinating point, arguing that "We execute the poor, minorities and males disproportionately," and that we need a moratorium "until we catch up by executing a lot of rich guys and middleclass white women."

There is an imbalance. Does anyone really want to argue that the poor, minorities or males are more evil or more criminally negligent as a group? And yet, they're getting the death penalty because they're being found guilty of murder more often. Does it mean that our lawmaking is stacked against such groups, or our justice system, or both? And, if we kill them for killing others, do we really believe we're deterring future injustices? I'm not opposed to capital punishment, but I believe we do it out of vengeful rage rather than a serious cost-benefit analysis.