Some people say that life in prison harder on the prisoner than the death penalty. According to Koch's essay it is not true; most convicted killers try to appeal the death penalty up to the last minute. Many of them make every effort to stay away from death. Why is that? It is because what else is more important than being alive. Also in Koch's essay the convict sometimes even try to bring us down to their level by begging for their life. The convict said: "if you kill me you are no better than I am." Regardless of what they try to say, it is certainly that all they want is to have another chance to be able to breathe the air we breathe in and walk the same ground we are standing on. To those who think that capital punishment cheapens the value of human life, they are wrong; instead it has the opposite effect.