I feel, in most regards, that it is both. I think it's brutal as in it's outdated, and more focused toward revenge as opposed to justice. It's definitely ineffective, and doesn't live up to it's purpose of existence at all, which is retribution and deterrence. It also lets some of the worst criminals 'off the hook', so to speak; that they essentially won't have to 'live' though any punishment. In fact, most of the time, such criminals would rather have death.

The execution of Saddam was by all means a blunder. The way it was carried out, made it not justice, but rather bloody revenge with obvious sectarian overtones. It wasn't justice on behalf of the Iraqi people, it was a lynching of a Sunni by angry Shia. Not to mention the trial itself was conducted in such a way that any real democratic society would consider legally absurd.