Long before the History Channel began showing documentaries about the key players in World War II and before reality-based television programs began reenacting events with spooky music, there was evil in the world. Today, evil sells as many products as Disney. Coincidence? Maybe not.

I have long been fascinated by evil. I think most people are from one angle or another. Some do this because they wish to emulate evil. It has a draw to it.

Why else would otherwise upstanding people hang out around executions brandishing frying pans and placards reveling in their publicly sanctioned bloodlust?

Give the typical citizen a socially acceptable reason to dip their toes in the dark side’s pool, and they will take it in an instant, doing the most amazing swan dives and cannonballs you have ever seen.

The death penalty is a great way to satisfy your primitive urge to destroy without fear of reprisal. We are like our cousin the chimpanzee in that way. Every once in a while these peaceful fruit-eating social butterflies of the wild will just go nuts and rip a spider monkey apart for the hell of it.

Where else in this country do you see bar chicks next to college coeds next to Christians chanting “burn, baby, burn!” We haven’t really changed since we climbed out of the slime, we just take showers more often.

We like to be able to classify what is evil so we know it’s okay to lash out at it. The only thing keeping us in line is the fear of reprisal. Remove the punishment and you see what people are really like.

If the death penalty were really the just execution of punishment some like to claim that it is, it would be carried out with solemnity and dignity.

Our countenance would suggest that we don’t want to do this, but we have to. No one would be selling concessions. No one would want to go near the things.

At the same time, we don’t like to get too close. As much as we claim to love the death penalty, there is no line of people waiting to pull the switch. People who carry out executions rarely, if ever, do them twice. It is one thing to say executions need to be done, it is another to do it yourself.

Even the warden of the nation’s largest, most notorious prison has modified his opinion about the death penalty. Warden Burl Cain said in a recent documentary about life on death row, that when he came to the prison he was all in favor of the death penalty. Having been present at his fair share of executions, this Louisiana law and order man told filmmakers his position had softened. It is one thing to be theoretically in favor of the death penalty, it is quite another see it carried out.

Granted, I opposed the death penalty for a list of reasons as long as my arm. I cannot respect the position of anyone who tries to tell me how necessary it is to kill criminals for the peace of mind of anyone, especially the peace of mind of society. Society has no mind to be peaceful or discontent.

Families may have their wishes. I sympathize with any victim and their family. I do not kid myself into believing that the least I can do is kill those who made their life hell. Killing murderers brings no one back to life.

The average person in the United States has grown up on a steady diet of prime time television, American propaganda and easily digestible black and white images of good and bad. We could not spot evil unless it sported an “I-heart-evil” T-shirt, black nail polish and a goatee. Frankly, evil is more subtle than that.

To that end, the only sensible thing to do in the service of society is to keep these murderers and sociopaths alive as long as possible. To what end? Science.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation leads the world in the study of criminal behavior. They have taken years of research and put it to practical use.

Now when serial killers begin their dark careers, they can be stopped before retirement. Each murder they commit gives investigators more to work with. The circles closes with each crime and before you know it, Johnny Serial Killer is behind bars.

This is not accomplished by killing deviants for our own benefit and “peace of mind.”

If you want to do society a favor, quit proselytizing about killing murderers for the good of society and look at the facts.

No matter how much it costs to keep a man alive for the remainder of his years lifting weights and watching cable in the joint, it is worth it for every second a Justice Department shrink can spend observing them and learning how to stop the next freak to come down the pike.

Far too often, we like to label anyone opposed to the death penalty as some bleeding heart liberal without the guts to do what is necessary.

Truth is, it takes a lot more strength of character to see the necessity of keeping people from the electric chair.

This isn’t unchecked liberalism, this is realistic pragmatism.

I don’t feel like cozying up to murderers any more than the next guy, but I don’t have to fool myself into believing that the universe makes sense every time a killer receives justice in the form of execution.

Murder victims are still dead when their killers die. State-sanctioned killings have not brought one person back from the grave to date.

“If you kill them, you know they won’t be getting out any time soon.” How trite.

A life sentence without the chance for parole is no walk in the park. Anyone who has done time in the joint will tell you the same.

I am big into revenge. I think about it all the time. People screw with me and it’s all I can do to keep from having their mail forwarded or throwing a rock at the back of their pointed, little heads.

If someone murders me, do me a favor: Don’t execute them. Let them live a long and healthy life in the can devoid of personal freedom and hope.

In the end, the best revenge is knowing that the person who killed you is a lab rat for justice.

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily.