One does not need to appeal to Axial-age mythologies to eliminate all support for judicially-imposed death. The arguments presented in the first half of the essay are more than sufficient. The problem is that relatively primitive societies have relatively primitive modalities. It took northern European countries until the 20th century to step away from the most flawed approaches to "justice" so it is natural that less well-developed societies should trail along behind. As the USA is, from a cultural perspective, in many ways closer to places like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia than it is to Sweden and the Netherlands, we must conclude that many US citizens will continue to embrace ineffective and deeply damaging policies, among which the death penalty is one. It takes a great deal of social stability, and political courage, to attempt to move past our hardwired atavistic impulses. Neither quality is evident in US life.