There's great company for proponents of capital punishment?

To The Daily Sun,

The death penalty has to go. It has to go but not because the state should not be in the business of killing people. That is another debate entirely. The reason is that we have executed innocent people because we are incapable of meting out justice fairly and consistently for a variety of reasons.

It has always been that way. Lady Justitia is clearly not wearing a blindfold. Since 1989, 362 people have been exonerated by the Innocent Project and DNA testing after having been convicted of very serious crimes, including homicides. About 70 percent of those exonerated were minorities. Others are working on cases, too. To highlight just how blind, deaf, and stupid our criminal justice system can be, consider the racially motived laws having crack cocaine convictions carry up to 10 times the punishment as powder cocaine convictions. That is only the tip of the iceberg.

We all have those feelings of outrage and feel like we could pull the lever ourselves when we hear of terrible crimes but that is a problem. Anger poisons justice. Unfortunately, we are a trigger-happy nation. We have a vengeful culture that solves problems with violence regularly. It's time we evolved and erred on the side of caution in our dispensing of justice. The thought of one innocent person being executed should upset everyone. To correct this, life without the possibility of parole should replace death row for capital crimes.

The United States is fifth in the world among executioner nations. China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia top the list. Following us are Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Gambia. Great company, eh?

James Veverka 

Tilton