I guess I must be getting a little soft in my old age.

I think as one grows older - I turn 42 this month, for the record - perceptions change.

For example, I used to think golf was kind of dumb. The whole concept seemed dull and boring.

Then I started to play a little bit. Now I am fully bitten by the golf bug. I find it challenging and enjoyable at the same time. In my youthful days - 20s and 30s - I perceived something like golf to be a waste of time. Now I wish I would have started a little earlier. Everybody my age hits the ball straighter than I do.

My perception of golf isn't the only thing that has changed over the years.

A much more significant perception that has changed is that of the death penalty.

I used to be a string-'em-up proponent of capital punishment.

An eye for an eye kind of guy.

But you know, over the years I have watched what happens in death penalty cases and I must say I really don't like some of what I see.

I guess I have a bit of double vision when it comes to the death penalty.

In some cases it seems reasonable and justifiable. It's a no-brainer.

Like a few weeks back when the guy in Missouri stole a sport utility vehicle from a convenience store parking lot. Problem was, there was a 6-year-old boy in the back seat.

The kid's mom, who had left the keys in the vehicle, ran out and frantically tried to get him out.

But the youngster got caught in the seat belt on the way out. When the crook took off, the door slammed shut with the boy tangled in the seatbelt.

The guy roared away, dragging the boy along.

By the time the guy stopped - after running 80 mph for a few miles - the boy was dead.

There is no question as to the car thief's guilt. He had to know the boy was being dragged. The mother was screaming bloody murder and the boy was stuck in the back door on the driver's side. There's now way he was unaware.

He made a choice. He chose to drag that poor little 6-year-old to death.

Now, if I am that kid's dad, I am a strong proponent of the death penalty.

I am a strong proponent of cruel and unusual punishment.

I would want the guy sentenced to be dragged behind a speeding car until his head fell off.

But the problem with the death penalty is that it is rarely that easy.

There are death penalty cases that are cut and dried, to be sure. But even the ones where guilt is certain are appealed for up to 20 years.

In the meantime, the families of the victims are in emotional limbo. They want justice. But justice is delayed for decades. I suppose life goes on, but it would seem that some sort of closure would be better.

Far more death penalty cases are not so cut and dried. There are questions as to the person's guilt even after the conviction.

There have been successful appeals and even cases of wrongful conviction in capital cases.

Now there's a real chiller for you. Say a relative of yours is a victim in a capital case. The state convicts the wrong guy.

Now you have to live with the fact that an innocent man is dead and the real killer is still living it up.

It's a paradox.

On the one hand you want swift justice. But on the other hand you want to exhaust every possible hint of doubt about the guilt of the convicted.

Many times those two things are mutually exclusive.

Other things about the death penalty seem strange to me, too.

Like how we selectively execute killers. Only certain killers are eligible.

And how we only execute poor people. I've often wondered about that.

Is it that rich people never commit murder, or is it that rich people never get executed?

I think it's the latter. And if it is, it's just wrong.

And then there are the arguments about the deterrent factor. I don't really consider today's version of the death penalty to be a deterrent. We're far too civilized about it for that. The deterrent factor went out with public hangings.

We would also have to wade through the murky philosophical debate about whether the state has the authority to take a human life.

Did we get to the Bible yet? The Bible certainly seems to support capital punishment, but I don't believe it requires it.

I suppose, when all is considered, I am getting a little soft on the death penalty. I would not label myself a death penalty opponent. But I am not a proponent either. I am in the no man's land of capital punishment.

That's what I meant earlier when I mentioned double vision.

Let me leave you with this thought.

I heard about this 42-year-old guy from Pakistan who was convicted of killing 100 children. The kids were strangled, dismembered and dissolved in vats of acid.

The judge ordered the serial killer strangled in a public park, his body cut into 100 pieces and put in acid - the same way he killed the children.

A barbaric sentence for a barbaric murderer.

Begs the question, doesn't it? Who's more barbaric? [[In-content Ad]]