Case against death penalty hasn’t been made

With all due respect to those who oppose the death penalty, they fail to support the claim that it is not a deterrent (“Make an example of Buffalo gunman by locking him up for the rest of his life,” May 19). Brought up as a Christian, I was not initially in favor of the death penalty. However, things have changed over the years.

We have better crime detective methods nowadays including video. If a murderer is caught red-handed with no reasonable doubt, then, yes, the death penalty is appropriate. Prisons are overcrowded and require a lot of taxpayers’ money, although I think I would rather see three convicted persons go free then one innocent be sent to death by the state.

Perhaps critics should interview persons on death row and ask if they had known they would be getting the death penalty, would they have thought twice about murdering some innocent person. Whether it fits the definition of a “hate” crime or not, the killing of an innocent person is a murder, period.

— R. Ruhe, Mint Hill, North Carolina