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There is no humane way to kill a person. But in any case, governments shouldn't be in the position of killing people, anyhow. The death penalty is vengeance, pure and simple. Not justice.
On the other hand, I don't necessarily have anything against vengeance. In my opinion, those found guilty of murder should be sentenced to life in prison. But in the case of murderers in the first degree (I don't believe anything else should warrant the death penalty) they should serve their prison terms in near-isolation, like in a supermax prison. If the family of the victim wishes, they should be able to challenge the murderer to a duel to the death, permitted by the state, with the victim's family choosing the weapons: two-handed broadsword, mace and buckler, or spear. The murderer can decline, and spend life in prison, or fight, and if he wins, he may choose to serve his time in a regular maximum security prison ward, rather than in near-isolation.
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Dull sublunary lovers love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
That thing which elemented it.
(From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)
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