The Death Penalty, Clemency, and the Theology of Vesta

From the fact that condemned prisoners who by chance encountered a Vestal Virgin on their way to execution were pardoned, I understand forgiveness and clemency to be central elements of the cult of Vesta. 

I wouldn't advocate against the death penalty in a capacity as a religious believer. I would however allow this kind of prior meta-principle or meta-belief to inform a political worldview, a set of political beliefs and positions. The latter, however, must be independent of the prior spiritual beliefs that inform them and capable of standing on their own, under their own weight, under the logic of universal human principles. If not, they represent private, individual faith only and it would be inappropriate to bring them into the political sphere. I also wouldn't ever want to see the Roman deities dragged through the ugly mud of a political debate. 

The BBC reports the tragic remorse of a doctor who served as an official in the Georgia corrections department, personally being involved in executions.

The death penalty also irreparably harms those who carry it out:

Burger spent 17 years on death row. Dr. Ault saw him change. The troubled youth got an education, his brain developed and matured.

Yes, he was guilty of a terrible crime. He was  also desperately contrite.

When Dr. Ault described Burger's execution to me, his words were powerful, the agonized silences even more so. Two decades have done little to ease Dr. Ault's burden of remorse and guilt.

"His last words to me were, 'Please forgive me.'"

"I could see the jolt of electricity running through his body. It snapped his head back and there was just total silence... and I knew that I had killed another human being."