Justices Brennan and Marshall
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You praised Justice Brennan. Among his achievements, which you honor, is his position against the death penalty. You quote Brennan as saying that capital punishment “involves in its very nature a denial of the executed persons humanity and is uniquely degrading to human dignity.”
It is precisely because capital punishment denies human dignity that we proponents of it believe it to be a deterrent to murder, thereby saving future would-be victims and perhaps future would-be murderers from human degradation.
It would appear that Brennan’s stand on capital punishment would not change even if there were incontrovertible evidence that capital punishment prevents crime. We need judges who have compassion and insights. Brennan gets high marks on the former but falls short on the latter.
GEORGE BRENNER
Westwood
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