Capital punishment – is it required?

Nowadays this is a very hot topic of discussion all over the world.  There are differences of opinion about its relevance. 

Some people argue that capital punishment is a must in society where evil is on the rise everyday and this type of punishments give a warning signal to criminals.  Moreover we kill wild animals when they are a threat to us.  A rapist, terrorist or serial killer is like a wild animal who has no right to live among us. So death penalty is the way to go.  In the case of a terrorist who killed a lot of poor people has no right to live and even if we keep him in a person his friends outside may  hijack a plane to release him at the cost of  innocent people.  Should we wait for that?

While others disagree on the need for capital punishment.  According to them nobody has the right to take away the life given by God.  It is not the person but his criminal mentality which needs to be cured.  So he has to be kept in a prison and give him a chance to live.  If we kill somebody based on a wrong judgment we can’t give life back to that person.   There is no “undo” in real life.

Where do you stand in this debate?