That's a good question, and worth pondering outside the context of the state's monopoly on violence. Would the average person prefer Ted Bundy kill them immediately or lock them in his basement for 20 years?

This entire comment chain seems to be conflating two common arguments:

1) If it's wrong to kill an innocent man, it's also wrong to imprison that same man; you can call one more unjust than the other, but (as the argument goes) you can't say that one is justified while the other is not.

2) Our society has gotten too used to locking people up in metal cages for several decades; there are many arguments in favor of moving back to flogging[1][2]

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Defense-Flogging-Peter-Moskos/dp/0465...

[2] https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/justice

Don't mean to flamebate but every time I read one of these article this book comes to mind.

http://www.amazon.com/In-Defense-Flogging-Peter-Moskos/dp/04...