Now that Virginia has stopped its embrace of what former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun called “the machinery of death,” it is important to take account of the many costs and few benefits of capital punishment. And why this backwards glance at a now-abandoned practice? While there are many reasons to pause and examine the price paid for state-sanctioned death, one reason stands above the rest – to make sure that Virginia is not tempted to someday return to killing its citizens.