last wednesday in my church's youth group, we had a breakout session with that same question as a topic. i don't remember off the the top of my head the verses that our youth pastor gave us, but he basicly said that authority over us had the right to execrise punnishment fitting to the crime. he also stressed that we as indeviduals don't have the right to revenge on our own- if someone kills your brother, you can't just go out and kill them. also, as long as we remain on the right side of the law, we don't have anything to worry about. hope this helps.