Today in my country (The Netherlands) a child molester had one of his days in court. Accused of many, many cases of child abuse, he said that he wanted to have 'euthanasia'. He wants to die, instead of a life in prison. But he wants us to to it for him.
In my country we don't have a death-penalty. We incarcerate for life and I would imagine the rest of that life is a whole lot better in Dutch jails then those in the US. But still, it's for the rest of your life.
We do have euthanasia. A word with a lot of terror for the ignorant masses, a way to go that needs much thought and regulation, but it's a worthy way out. To put it bluntly: "We don't kill people, but we just help them die peacefully if they really (and I mean really) want to".
Without hesitation I would fill out the forms and have the talks with multiple doctors, if a terminal, painful and dehumanizing end could be avoided.The same for something like Alzheimer's or ALS: "If it is up to be me, I want to make the final call, surrounded by those I love in the setting of my choosing". What better way to go (at least it avoids a messy suicide, by gun or train).
It's something our society helps you to do, because of illness and compassion. Not because you (or they) want to, but because you have to (and they understand).
And that is really different to what this guy wants. He'll behind bars for the rest of his life, he knows he's dangerous, won't change and doesn't want to 'rot in jail'. So, he wants to die voluntarily, though not through suicide. It should be done to him, like an execution or what he claims 'euthanasia'. And that won't happen.
It's a cowards way out. If you feel like you've failed, corrupted, abused or dishonored your life, be a man and take a knife and cut open your guts (like a Japanese samurai). Or take the gun with one bullet left on the table, for you to decide what degree of dishonor fits. At least that's a 'honorable' way to show regret and a really economic way for the rest of society to move on.
Just don't ask us to do it for you.
But should we give him the opportunity to put a gun against his head (as an alternative to a life in prison)? Perhaps we should offer a less messy way out, like in 'Soylent Green': you enter a parlor, you lay down and you voluntarily die? Because if we deny that person the choice to die against a lifetime of suffering we're going to inflict on him/her, do we act out of vengeance or justice? Does it make us better or worse humans if we gave those lifelong inmates who really want it a choice to (peacefully) die if they want to?
At least there's a real difference with euthanasia: they will live when they don't choose.