Indeed, letting individuals decide who does and doesn't deserve to live, is how we end up with endless blood feuds. "They killed my brother so their life is for

Indeed, letting individuals decide who does and doesn't deserve to live, is how we end up with endless blood feuds. "They killed my brother so their life is forfeit." I've read a saying that a government is an entity with a "monopoly on violence." I think that however imperfect it is, giving the government this monopoly means that there's an objective process for deciding who deserves to live, and who doesn't. Personal satisfaction as a criterion is always going to produce outcomes that are massively disproportionate, and will simply shift the dissatisfaction to someone else.