I was staking out a rhetorical position for the sake of debate. “Devil’s Advocate.” As much as said so on the tin. Didn’t really get a debate going though.
Personally, no. I think “eye for an eye” is an abhorrent mode of punishment, excepting that there needs to be a spine for dealing with the most incorrigible and truly evil among us. I don’t profess to know what that spine is, though.