Death sentence received!

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The modern era has seen increasing numbers of extremely violent crimes which the general legal justice system does not seem to address appropriately. On April 28, 1996 in the historic town of Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australian, 28 year old eccentric, Martin Bryant went berserk, killing 35 people and injuring 37 others in the formerly peaceful seaside town. Bryant later pleaded guilty to the crime and is now serving 35 life sentences in prison with no hope of parole http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia) But is this enough? Certainly Bryant will spend the rest of his life in prison but in Western society today, prison has become little more than a home away from home for prisoners. A place where they have the comforts of home, no responsibilities, no financial worries etc. The death penalty was officially completely abolished in Australia in the year 1973 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Australia What do you think? Should the death penalty be reintroduced? If your country has the death penalty, should it be abolished? Personally I believe it should be reintroduced in Australia... but should only be used in cases where solid evidence convicts the perpetrator, such as several eye witnesses, dna evidence, gunshot residue on hands etc. It should not be used in cases where circumstancial evidence is used to convict a person just in case the person happens to be innocent. Do you think the death penalty is too merciful on perpetrators? After all, it does end their miserable existence and perhaps they should be made to pay for their crime in misery. Would it be better to sentence them to heavy labour to give them time to regret their actions? And should mental illness make a difference to the sentence? If a person is showing signs of severe mental illness prior to committing the crime, should the justice system go easy on them because of it? Personally I believe that many criminals who plead guilty on grounds of insanity do so only to avoid the wheels of justice. What is your opinion on this topic?