“…Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime,…It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity; in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. … such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.” Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, no. 56