Certainty’s over-rated

In a recent column, Dana “kill ’em now” Kelley makes a most intelligent and persuasive argument in support of capital punishment: It will preserve law enforcement resources to solve important crimes like burglaries and auto thefts.

If we don’t clog up the criminal justice system trying to determine if someone is really guilty of murder, our police and district attorneys can spend time more productively trying to convict the bad guys who stole your flat-screen TV last month. I’m surprised he didn’t also mention that it frees up a prison bed for the state’s next victim.

Kelley’s reasoning is not unlike that of Oscar Wilde, the Irish literary gadfly, who reportedly suggested that the Irish solve their potato famine in the mid-1800s by eating the Irish babies. Problem solved. Fewer mouths to feed and more for the rest of us.

Kelley provides absolute proof of his thesis. In Virginia in 1992, an executed convict had maintained his innocence to the very end. Later, DNA evidence proved he was actually guilty. Case closed. It happened once in Virginia 20 years ago, so it must be universally true today. Nowhere does he mention the cases where DNA had the opposite result: clearing inmates on death row falsely convicted of murder because of race or poor legal representation or any combination of other factors we all know exist.

Kelley argues for clearance rates over certainty. For efficiency over conscience. He should run for public office in Arkansas; he’s a natural. DAVID ELI COCKCROFT

Little Rock