Death Sentence Meted Out Unfairly
* I am angry that so many people are threatened with violence daily, and I mourn for each and every victim of any crime.
I am also against the taking of all human life including executions when there are other options for punishment. I have a real daily experience with violence in my ministry, so I believe I can speak with some certainty that this unfortunate desire to continue the killing cycle (executions, albeit the final killing) is meted out unfairly.
For example, in the same week that Gov. Pete Wilson decided to kill Thomas M. Thompson, whose capital sentence is even questioned by some death-penalty advocates, another group of convicted killers received a long prison sentence. Their crime? Admitted killing of a small girl whose family made a wrong turn down an alley in L.A.
I just don’t understand how we decide who lives and who will be killed. And is it up to us anyway?
THE REV. VALENTINE ZDILLA
Oxnard
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