‘New Wave of Executions’

Your editorial “A New Wave of Executions,” (June 19) played on the humane theme that the taking of human life by the State is immoral, and we know that it is. This type of logic, however, is over-simplification, and is like saying we cannot have prison reform unless we get a better class of prisoners!

This editorial misses an important ugly fact which mankind has wrestled with since the days of Socrates; and, that is what is to be done with criminals who are a great danger to society? On the whole Americans are decent people and they are not all vindicative nor do they seek revenge. Most of us are saddened by the “revival of executions,” but what about our right to our personal safety and our lives?

If the “death penalty is unfairly and irrationally applied,” then we should remedy our legal system. Also, at present we have monumental problems with our corrective and prison facilities. Your editorial does not present a responsible citizen’s approach to a vital problem.

It is easy to urge in a strident emotional manner an argument against capital punishment that plays on our conscience as decent human beings--but what is the ultimate right solution? What should be done with hardened and psychopathic criminals who are a grave danger to all of us? Respect for human life is what American society has underwritten in our laws. We need to find a decent alternative to capital punishment. Your editorial does not offer one.

N. C. POLOS

Claremont