def soft_kill(jid, state_id=None):
    '''
    Set up a state run to die before executing the given state id,
    this instructs a running state to safely exit at a given
    state id. This needs to pass in the jid of the running state.
    If a state_id is not passed then the jid referenced will be safely exited
    at the beginning of the next state run.
    '''
    minion = salt.minion.MasterMinion(__opts__)
    minion.functions['state.soft_kill'](jid, state_id)