Putting someone's life on the line means giving someone else the ability to decide who dies. I don't trust any group of people enough to make that decision, and even if I did, I wouldn't have faith that they wouldn't lose it over time. Even when it is clear who did the wrong, it is not so clear why the individual did, and from where the directive and pressures came. IMO systemic problems are rarely corrected by making an example of offenders. Often, offenders are simply the most vulnerable within the corrupt system, and their fate does not powerfully influence the nature of it. When the Mob wants a strip club blown up, they pick a lackey, and put him in a position where he can't say no. The Mob operates under the assumption that the lackey is likely to get caught and punished. The CIA recommends that operatives get insurance for when they might get pinned for something that the CIA is not willing to admit that they directed the operative to do.