Several years ago a group of curious fifth graders visited the Matheson Courthouse and were granted access to one of the judges. While most of the children were curious about pounding the gavel and what the judge wore under his robes, one precocious youngster cornered the judge and demanded to know why "killers and other bad guys" were allowed to languish in prison cells instead of being sentenced and promptly executed.

The judge didn't miss a beat in his response. "Yes, it's true," he admitted. "Sometimes it does take a long time for someone to be executed." He continued, "But aren't you glad you live in a country that values human life, even the life of criminals?"

Currently there are nine men on Utah's Death Row and several of them have been there more than 20 years. The longest serving prisoner is Ron Lafferty who murdered his sister-in-law and her 15-month-old daughter more than 23 years ago. The long legal process of appeals can make the stay on death row actually turn into a life sentence.

For the families of victims, sometimes the extended time from sentencing to execution may seem like "cruel and unusual" punishment. However, if a person thinks that the death of the perpetrator can bring "closure," they are probably mistaken.

The reality is that there is no closure. Anyone who has lost a loved one to death can tell you that not a day goes by when they aren't blindsided with a stab of loss. Time softens the blow, but even a 50-year-old will feel orphaned after his parents are gone.

To have a loved one taken in a violent and senseless crime is an extraordinarily painful loss, but punishment of the criminal who caused this loss will never bring their loved one back nor erase the tragedy of their death. When one such family member was recently interviewed, he spoke with energetic bitterness about the murderer "eating three meals a day and sitting in a warm cell" while his loved one lay in a cold grave.

This is giving a despicable human being too much power. Toss the scum into a cell, throw away the key, and don't spend another moment wasting time on the killer. Remember how your loved one lived, not how they died. Justice takes patience and sometimes the best justice is carried out by those who refuse to let the murderer hold the memories of a loved one hostage with bitterness and hate.