Re: April 8 Shane Claiborne column.
The state of Arkansas has scheduled eight prisoner executions in 10 days because of the pending expiration of a lethal injection drug.
There is nothing humane about executions — even via lethal injection, which puts the prisoner “to sleep” before administering life-ending chemicals. And sometimes executions are botched, resulting in extended — some say inhumane — agony.
If execution is to continue in this country, it should be via firing squad. Itap certain and itap over in a split second. And it should be televised. If the intent is to deter future violent criminals, that would send the clearest message. Then U.S. citizens might have a serious debate about merits of capital punishment.
I support life in prison with zero possibility of parole instead.
Jeffrey Smith, Boulder
Shane Claiborne’s bleeding-heart misrepresentation of what Jesus Christ stood for makes my heart ache. And I’m not all that religious! What Jesus Christ stood for was forgiveness, but the Bible also says, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
Corporal punishment does have have a proper place in society. Those who commit atrocious crimes have no place in our society. The Constitution says cruel and unusual punishment is illegal. Seems to me that locking someone up for 40 to 120 years meets that description.
I heard of a woman who took her murdered son’s killer into her home and treated him as a son. Maybe Claiborne would like to volunteer for that duty? How much time has he spent visiting death-row inmates?
Mark Rawlins, Westminster
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