I know a couple way-left liberals that somehow still support the death penalty. Oddly enough, my own objections are not moral, but practical. I think some criminals deserve death, but I don't think the judicial system is competent to hand such "penalties" out. And in cases where the guilt is obvious, it's still not clear that you can kill monsters and not become a monster, or that a civil society can take that approach (there's options). I guess I'm all over the map on the death penalty, the only consistency in my position comes from a distrust of the government's ability, as I said, to assign this "penalty".
Now, since I suspect you trend against the death penalty (but I have no idea how much), let me further provoke the question with a context: