“In debates about the death
penalty, I had started arguing that we would never think it was humane
to pay someone to rape people convicted of rape or assault and abuse
someone guilty of assault or abuse. Yet we were comfortable killing
people who kill, in part because we think we can do it in a manner that
doesn’t implicate our own humanity, the way that raping or abusing
someone would. I couldn’t stop thinking that we don’t spend much time
contemplating the details of what killing someone actually involves.”