If everything goes as planned, Karla Faye Tucker will be executed Tuesday in Texas. Her crime was no less heinous than most murders. She took a pickax and helped bludgeon two people to death. Her prosecutors found it very easy under Texas law to get a capital conviction, especially after she testified that she was sexually aroused while swinging the ax. Now she claims to have had a religious conversion and has an impressive list of supporters.
Tucker writes essays and makes video programs aimed at saving kids from lives of crime.
This, of course, does not change the fact that she is guilty of murder. However, she is certainly doing more good for society alive than she will dead. Many death row inmates are despicable monsters. If they can't be reformed, they can still be punished. Putting them to work to pay off their debt to society is sensible.