Death Penalty
* Charles Lindner, in “Why Voters Are Inept Crime Fighters” (Opinion, Dec. 12), makes a very strong point--while at the same time missing it. He correctly points out that complex issues such as the death penalty are difficult to solve using the initiative process.
His comment that “California’s constitutional problems with the death penalty were not created by pinko liberals in the Legislature or governmental ‘limp-wristed wimps’ ” fails to recognize that the problems are due to the refusal of the liberals (pinko or not) in the Legislature to accept the will of the people that elected them.
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death penalty law, an overwhelming majority asked the Legislature to write a new law within the guidelines set forth by the court. The liberal majority in Sacramento refused. The people were forced to use the initiative process to get the legislation they had been demanding.
GEORGE COANDA
Santa Maria
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