Few Are Executed Despite Death Penalty

* Re “Support for Death Penalty Drops Sharply in State,” Times Poll, Nov. 2: Back in 1950 when a young black man, Willie Magee, was executed in Mississippi for first-degree rape (he was convicted of raping a white woman), I rallied with other college students in opposition to the death penalty. In 1953, when Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for espionage, I again marched against capital punishment. However, since the Supreme Court redefined the criteria for capital punishment, I have supported the punishment for those convicted of capital murder.

The fact remains, however, that very, very few people convicted of first-degree murder will ever be executed. In California, for example, over 500 people are on death row. And only two a year are actually executed. Thus, for the remaining convicts, it will require 250 years or more to execute all of them--not counting the new convicts sentenced every year.

The polls show a much smaller majority favor capital punishment than a few years ago, but in reality (except for Virginia, Texas and Florida), very few states actually execute anyone. So for all practical purposes, the United States has nearly done away with capital punishment.

SOL TAYLOR

Sherman Oaks

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Unfortunately we cannot eliminate murders by persons--and the death penalty has been shown not to help--but we can eliminate murders by the government, as most advanced nations have done.

JOHN MAYS

Malibu