The Wrong Reason to Favor Execution

Sandy Banks’ perspective on Karla Faye Tucker and the death penalty (“Did Tucker Really Deserve Our Pity?” Feb. 6) unfortunately reflects the true character of our nation on this most painful issue. Banks states that she opposes executions for all the right reasons but finally comes down on the pro-execution side for the wrong reason: revenge.

I am in favor of executions any time I read or hear about a heinous crime, such as the one Tucker committed. It is a most natural knee-jerk reaction, and no one should feel guilty for feeling that way.

But society has no business institutionalizing the knee-jerk reactions of its citizens. Rather, society must institutionalize the carefully thought, coldly reasoned and ethically informed decisions we all are capable of making.

IGNACIO CASTUERA, Pastor

North Glendale

United Methodist Church

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Banks says that when considering the death penalty, if a family member were a victim, “emotions intervene and issues once clear become cloudy.” That is precisely why capital punishment is wrong. If we are not sure, as a society, that executions are wrong, then they should not occur.

Moreover, if Tucker had been sentenced to life without parole, no one would be talking about her. No one would feel sympathy for her. She’d be sitting in a cell, paying the price for her crimes, the price of her life.

MIRIAM K. BILLINGTON

Santa Monica

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Banks claims to be opposed to the death penalty, then claims that Tucker got all the mercy she deserved.

Tucker herself was far more eloquent on the subject, pointing out that the prison system releases 92% of its inmates. Without benefit of rehabilitation, the criminal justice system is nothing more than a revolving door. The death penalty grabs the headlines, but the issue is the justice system.

Tucker’s childhood and her crime could hardly have been more ghastly, yet her legacy is one of insight and hope. I think Tucker deserved better.

DANNY SULLIVAN

San Diego