>>But one thing I can say about the 'efficiency' concept though
Blackstone's Formulation says "it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." I suppose that DNA and the growing surveillance society sometimes makes guilt more definitive than it was in the 1700s. But when society gets it wrong, how much the innocent "suffers" when put to death seems hardly the point.
Also interesting that some who fiercely invoke the Constitution when it suits them, appear less concerned about its reference to cruel and unusual punishment when that suits them.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
