too old to die?

this article from cnn.com caught my attention this morning.

just last week i was talking to a friend about capital punishment and our feelings about it. i'm against the death penalty. i don't think killing people who killed people is the way to show that killing is wrong. that being said, i've never lost anyone close to me to violent crime and i don't know what the answer is. lifelong incarceration is expensive and without rehabilitation programs, what's the point? as a parent, i punish my children when they misbehave but i also try to make sure they learn from their mistakes. does locking criminals up teach them anything except try not to get caught?

i digress. my friend told me that he is in favor of the death penalty as long as they execute the person right away. no languishing on death row for years and years. his example was the former crips founder, tookie williams, who was recently executed. my friend's argument was that tookie changed dramatically during his stint on death row and became an outspoken advocate of non-violence. should he have been killed for crimes he committed years ago when he was a different person? should the changes he made in prison negate the punishment for his original crimes?

i don't think so. but i agree with my friend that if we're going to have the death penalty (and jeez, i wish we didn't), then it ought to be swift. what's the point of executing a 76-year-old man? i suppose if i was a family member or friend of the people he killed/arranged to kill i would feel differently. i don't know the answer...