The punishments meted out to those who take someone else’s life are not supposed to be seen as measures of the value of that lost life. We should not infer that a life is worth more, for example, if a killer is sentenced to 25 years, as opposed to 10 years, or five years, or just a couple of years of probation. Punishments are supposed to be about the circumstances of a crime, about aggravated and mitigating factors, about the principles of denunciation and distribution, about rehabilitation and retribution, and about public safety. The inherent worth of the lost life, really, has nothing to do with it.
