if you make one "small mistake" while lawyering an innocent person might get sentenced to death.
why do so many programmers think their job is inherently more special and difficult than everyone else's?
why do so many programmers think their job is inherently more special and difficult than everyone else's?
Probably largely because they get paid more than all of their peers when they start their careers.
But potentially life-or-death cases are not limited to death penalty cases, they are just the most obvious class of cases that are life-or-death.
There are far greater numbers (and proportion) of lawyers who work on potentially life-and-death work -- not limited to death penalty cases -- than programmers who do so.
Though for what it's worth this is less a "programmers are awesome and important!" argument than it is a "don't get your view of lawyers from television shows" argument -- if the OP had gone with doctors or something I wouldn't have said anything.