Again, we’ve been treated to a myopic, anti-anything-liberal, and this time, verging on racist, letter from Mike Sigman.
Sigman (“Herald editorial wrong on death penalty,” March 18) commented on a Herald piece (“Abolish it,” March 11) that advocated for the abolishment of the death penalty.
There’s only one salient issue here: If we have a death penalty, will innocent people be executed?
The answer is, of course, yes.
The next question is: As a civilized society, do we allow our need for justice to lead us to run a state-sponsored lottery where the winners get put to death? Because that’s exactly what we do when we impose the death penalty. It’s a given that random innocent people will be executed. That’s a lottery. Does Mr. Sigman want any of his loved ones to be one of those inevitable sacrificial lambs?
One of the costs of doing business as a civilized society should be that we don’t randomly kill innocent people just so we can feel a collective sense of revenge and justice. There’s no other part of the issue that needs to be addressed.
Finally, what can’t go without mention is Sigman’s statement about “the constant one-sided comments about justice disparately affecting blacks.” What’s the other side of this issue, Mr Sigman? Study after study has revealed that, in general, blacks who enter the justice system face different treatment and outcomes than their white counterparts. You really want to advocate that there’s a pro argument to be made for that?
Gunnar Conrad
Durango
