California’s Death Penalty

As a teen-ager during the early 1960s, I lived and attended school less than three miles from San Quentin. I still remember the horror of sitting in a high school classroom, staring at the clock, knowing that at a certain hour society was consciously killing another human being. At that time, I could not understand how United States citizens could stoop to the level of the criminal and coldly kill. Now, many years later, I still cannot understand how consciously taking the life of another human being accomplishes anything but revenge. Perhaps the plan to take Harris’ life just after midnight is calculated to numb our awareness of what we are doing. Some might even call it cowardly. I, for one, will not sleep that night.

MARCIA FRIDEGER, SNJM, Orange