Capital punishment: It’s hideous and depraved.

What's happened in Bali in the last hour degrades us all.

There, by the grace of god, we all go as parents - hoping our children don't make the wrong choices, criminal choices in life, and all morning all I can think of are the mothers of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

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It's a parent’s role to protect their child. Imagine as the minutes are ticking by, knowing you can do nothing to stop your son being shot.

Just imagine that for a moment.

It begs the question, who are the real victims in an act of capital punishment?

I’ve heard all the arguments for it. I’ve heard all the justifications. I can't accept any of them.

There are those who say the death penalty is a deterrent…well, is it? If it was, our news agenda wouldn't be peppered with stories about drug mules trafficking P, heroin, E, cocaine, and LSD through Asian countries. In fact, study after study has failed to prove that the death penalty acts as a deterrent.

The FBI's figures show there are more murders in states which do carry the death penalty, than in states which don’t. Amnesty International puts it best - they say the death penalty is a harsh punishment on a person – but it is not harsh on crime.

Others argue that it’s cheaper to execute someone - another fallacy. It costs more to execute a death row inmate because of the legal process you have to go through. It's cheaper to lock someone up and throw away the key.

And let’s also remember…innocent people die because of capital punishment. In New York, before they abolished executions, at least six innocent people were put to death.

There is a penalty that is far better than the death penalty on many fronts – and that is true life imprisonment: Jailed for life without any possibility of parole – ever.

A life sentence that means life.

Human life has to have some value. The death penalty, by its very existence, says that's not the case: life has no value. Capital punishment hardens people; it creates a tolerance in us all for violence – because that’s what capital punishment is. It is legalised violence.

It is inhumane and it’s degrading – not to the person who’s being executed. But to us: society, humanity.

Surely, there can be no grounds to kill in the name of the law. There can be no grounds to kill in the name of justice.