I'd be concerned this kind of textual derivation will wind up informing juries.
(This is not a comment to the inferences social value as a constructed view)
above all supposition of course.
That being said, and a little tangentially, views on the death penalty are actually quite mixed (for instance in France about 40% of people are in favour of the death penalty for some crimes) but, like a number of other topics, one opinion has been labeled "wrong" and so is not represented in the mainstream public space. In addition, in Europe a ban on the death penalty is a legal condition for EU membership so national debates are moot...