Death Penalty: Sign of ‘Barbaric Society’

Ah, me--another district attorney who has never seen a death penalty with which he couldn’t fall in love (Commentary, Sept. 24). The death penalty is a necessary tool that reaffirms the sanctity of human life--jeez! Does that ever sound like Vietnam! Kill ‘em all and let God sort it out.

Michael Bradbury surely knows that those innocent persons exonerated were nearly all proven innocent due to the diligence of students and other outsiders. Is it any wonder that cops, district attorneys and, yes, even judges are reluctant to change their minds and reopen cases that are over and done with in a pressure-filled system with conflicting motives?

All the reviews by state and federal courts count for naught if evidence denying a fair trial is withheld from the court. A small fraction of rogue police officers across the nation has been shown to have caused undiscovered legal errors by lying and withholding crucial evidence. And let’s not forget that the entire Rampart scandal is unfolding because a rotten cop sought a deal from the system on a separate felony charge, not from the conscientious investigation by the LAPD from within.

Bradbury boasts that DNA evidence can be used to prove guilt or innocence. However, lacking DNA evidence, there are few tools that can be used to free those wrongly convicted by dishonesty in the system. We can disagree about whether there should or should not be a death penalty. But any arguments should be based on evidence and reality, not wishful dreams.

RICHARD A. HEIN

Fullerton

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Bradbury’s article is a fantastic piece of doublespeak. If his thesis is correct, then Nazi Germany, Khomeini’s Iran and present-day China must be Edens. The death penalty should be abolished not because of its immorality, or because it is not imposed impartially, or because of the possibility of sending innocent people to death. The death penalty should be abolished because it is the hallmark of a barbaric society.

Executions do not bring closure. Rather, their application feeds the need of some for revenge and creates a template for dispute resolution. If society is to rise above its baser instincts, the cycle of violence needs to be broken by abolishing the death penalty.

JOE GIUS

Los Angeles