This editorial was about executions gone wrong. Some executions fail to kill the person allowing them to live. They don't live very long for there is another attempt at their life some other day. The author is saying that if people are willing to believe in the death penalty then they should at least believe in a humane way of putting someone do death for wrong-doing. The author wants to get the point across that states who enforce the death penalty should stand back and look at the cruelty of putting people to death.