Why the strong desire to prevent someone like this from killing themselves? Do we need public revenge so badly? If a person wishes to end his life it is not the place of the state to contravene. Certainly as a society we can and should _counsel_ against it but to physically prevent it denies him his right to determine his own fate. He's a prosecutor so he knows exactly what he faces so he is more fully informed about what will transpire next than I would imagine most pedophiles are. The claim that he doesn't fully appreciate his plight and is therefore not informed enough to make a rational decision rings hollow. His guilt or innocence is irrelevant in a sense unless we feel only innocent persons should be allowed to commit suicide. Since the state has shown little to no interest in fully funding suicide prevention programs I think we can safely take this to mean the state is really more ambivalently about an individuals suicide than public officials may otherwise claim. The proof is in the funding as it were. If more politicians would fall on their swords when they brought dishonor onto themselves and their office it would be fine by me. Picturing Dick Cheney disemboweling himself rather pleases me. We all know the old expression "Life, it's not for everyone."
John Thornton