The Pros and Cons of Death Row

While it is valuable to point out, one more time, the weakness of the deterrence argument, the inequitable manner in which the death sentence is applied and the appalling possibility of executing innocent persons, I am most grateful to Tim Rutten for addressing the crucially important link between child abuse and the death penalty.

Statistics have shown that most people on Death Row suffered some form of abuse as children, a fact which seems to matter little in the hysterical quest for election-year easy answers. Whether or not this statistic is a reason to show the condemned any mercy is not the real issue. The fact is, we can take the 2,200-plus people on death rows, line them up tomorrow morning and shoot them, and in little or no time, 2,200 others will have taken their places.

If Americans are really serious about wanting to curb crime, we must first put an end to all forms of child abuse--physical, emotional, and spiritual. We must explode the myth that the American family is sacred--that parents are always right by virtue of the fact that they are parents; that corporal punishment is as wholesome as apple pie (and about as harmless).

We must take steps to prevent people from ending up in the kind of pain it surely takes to make a person want to destroy another person.

KAREN HALL

Arcadia