> rebbe akiva was against the death penalty
I understand that he, and R Tarfon, want to minimize it. True, Gemora brings technical examples where these 2 will inquire one way, and Rabonim differently, but it seems to me that Mishna clearly talks about disagreement about social policies. Their statement is between (1) one that executes once in 70 years is excessive and (2) R Shimon’s retort that their liberalism will lead to more murders. I think you can reconcile technical and social approaches saying that RR Akiva & Tarfon would go to great length to find such arguments and others will simply not.
I don’t think it is a controversial idea that Rabbis were guided by social motives. I am not sure why you are triggered here. Maybe you see me as an advocate for some liberal anti-death-penalty thing? I am not, and I don’t think I learned Makkos (or anything else) with someone who is, or at least obsessed about it. Is it an “MO” thing in your circles?