makes me question my belief that the death penalty shouldn’t exist

Don’t know if you’re interested in my perspective but here it is anyway. Some people shouldn’t ever be allowed to live in society again (Bundy, GSK, BTK) and the death penalty can be the most efficient and effective method of ensuring the they never do. In an ideal world where there is perfect justice the death penalty can be justified. We don’t live in an ideal world. In practice governments execute a lot of innocent people. Governments also allow the death penalty to creep (if you can execute serial killers and mass murders then why not someone who’s only killed one person, then why not people who tried but failed to kill someone, then chronic violent offenders, then chronic non violent offenders…) Governments don’t apply the death penalty evenly or fairly, in particular race and socioeconomic status play a significant role in sentencing decisions. Governments view it as punishment which allows them to justify inhumane execution methods to themselves.

So, in my view, the death penalty can be morally justified but should never exist because governments can’t be trusted with it.