I'm against the death penalty. Long ago, it may have had a purpose, but we can protect society just as well without it now. Things like super-maximum security prisons and true life without parole sentences have rendered it unnecessary. More people now support sentences other than the death penalty , primarily life without parole, for first degree murder, than support the death penalty. I can certainly understand its rationalization: executed people are incapable of committing further crimes, escaping, etc. But what I can't understand at all is why are some executions performed in December? December is the holiday season; it's supposed to be a time of joy. How is it fair to the families of those executed to execute someone in December, especially if the murder they committed was not in December? There are eleven other months to performed state-sanctioned killing. 2017's last execution was on November 8, a record for the past thirty years*. In fact, no executions hav...