A courageous stance toward a more civilized state

To The Daily Sun,

I am writing to express my sincere thanks to Belknap 2 representatives Glen Aldrich and Johnathan Mackie, as well as State Sen. Harold French, for voting to support HB 455 which repeals the death penalty in New Hampshire and replaces it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

These legislators listened to testimony of relatives of murder victims, experts, advocates and law enforcement and cast a brave vote which brings us into alignment with the rest of the free world. The United States is sometimes slow to the table on issues of human rights. We were a little behind the rest of the free world on slavery and segregation, but we got there.

We are now coming to the realization that, as horrific an act as murder is, we do not need to act upon emotional impulses for revenge and the risk of killing innocent people by having the state carry out a ritualized murder of another human being. 

One could imagine someone in the crowd objecting to the hanging, drawing and quartering of William Wallace (a.k.a. Braveheart) and having someone say, “Well, you’d be in favor of it if the Scotts had raided your village.” Well, you may well be, but we have since realized that such horrific punishments are not civilized and diminish those carrying out the punishment.

I do believe that a culture of redemptive violence as embodied by the use of the death penalty, more so than the presence of large amounts of guns, fuels violence in general. If the answer to the ultimate crime is state-sanctioned killing, then the answer to your isolation, alienation and anger is to make the ultimate statement of a mass shooting. The answer to your depression and hopelessness is the ultimate exit of suicide. Violence begets violence and has never been a deterrence for violence.

So, I thank our representatives again for their courageous stance toward a more civilized, mature and caring New Hampshire. I would hope that the Governor signs the bill.

Michael Dowe

Gilford