Death penalty debate — not for me

In the May 2 Weekend Telegram Robin Reid wrote about an issue of some controversy that has long been debated in Canada: the death penalty.

Reid’s letter appears to be in response to the horrific shooting rampage that recently occurred in Nova Scotia and seems to favour the killing of the shooter in the event he had survived the incident. I suspect there are others who would support that action.

I, for one, am not one of those people.

Under no conditions would I ever support the taking of another human life, regardless of any crime that has been committed. I realize that is perhaps too liberal a strategy for some and why, they may ask, should the state have to support the incarceration of such a criminal for the rest of his or her life, but so be it.

I am completely opposed to the death penalty primarily because it would reduce us, or the state, to the same level of the murderer. The death penalty is not something that civilized countries should practice.

Witness China, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.A. as examples, where people are gassed, shot, poisoned, beheaded or electrocuted willy nilly, frequently it appears with some enthusiasm.

I could never support that. I believe that, once born into this world, all life is and should be considered sacred.

Also, I would suggest, the value of such actions as deterrents is very debatable, witness the murder rate in the U.S.A. compared to other countries that surges on, even with the death penalty in place.

Also history is rife with examples where far too often an innocent person is killed for a crime they did not commit.

I am glad I live in Canada. Marvin Barnes

St. John’s