Anna Quindlen in her Nov. 21 column states that the death penalty is racist because “black men are disproportionately represented on death row.” Whatever happened to holding each individual responsible for his own actions? Everything does not have to be proportioned according to racial quotas.
She states that the death penalty is meaningless because death row inmates did not consider it when committing their crimes. I agree it is meaningless to the criminal who commits the crime, but it has meaning to society. The feeling is that it is not right to house, clothe and feed someone who would commit such acts.
She states that the death penalty is too expensive to keep because of the lengthy appeal process. This is undoubtedly true and also the problem. The appeals process is too lengthy. Cut the number of appeals to one or two, cut out all the lawyer tricks and the cost will drop well below that of keeping the criminal in prison for 40 years.
Due process is democracy’s middle name, but our current justice system is more like overdue process. If it were carried out with some measure of swiftness and surety, the death penalty might actually become a deterrent to some.
