Just take 'em out back and do it like the mafia does it.

A convicted killer, who has been on death row for half of his life, gets to eat his final meal for the 4th time. Philip Workman is supposed to die via the state. Yet the first three times, he was given a stay of execution. This case is demonstrative of so much that is wrong with the death penalty. Why is this man living on the dime of the taxpayers for 20 years when he is not being rehabilitated or made to be of any value for anyone?

It is hard to be a proponent of the death penalty because it makes us as guilty as the ones we are killing, doesn't it? On the other hand, they live free of charge in what is probably not a very nice place. (I say probably because I have not experienced it). Yet, sometimes the life that they come from is a place worse than prison.

Opponents of the death penalty scream about the inhumane way these people are killed, yet we put our dogs to sleep in the same manner. No one discusses the fact that these convicted killers get to choose their last meals, and get to pray to God for forgiveness and get to say goodbye to their families. What about Joseph Smith who raped and murdered eleven year old Carlie Bruccia? That little girl's last moments were filled with terror. She did not get to pray or see her parents one last time. She did not get to hold her teddy bear for comfort while her life was ripped from her.

The laws need to change. Of course the idea that an innocent person be executed is horrendous and everything should be done to ensure that never happens. Yet, there is no reason for all the processes and the stays of a guilty person that force him to live on death row for so long. I can't imagine life on death row would be any better than death anyway.