After keeping him in prison for literally half his life, Georgia executed a 72 year old man.

[TeddyR]

64. Many murderers

Go on to kill other prisoners while in prison. Some murderers are paroled (or much more rarely) escape and kill again. Keeping someone in prison for 30+ years costs a lot of money (and yes, I know that the death penalty process also costs a lot of money). So yeah, executions serve a further purpose because they end the threat that the murderer will kill again. And I personally believe that justice is served in many executions - why should a murderer enjoy a lengthy life (and perhaps get paroled) when they've prematurely ended the life of another? End of the day, there are many heinous crimes committed by evil people and I don't feel any sympathy or regret that a murderer is put to death for ending the life of an innocent person (or persons), often in a horrific manner that resulted in the victim living his or her last few hours in terror and pain.