I have no understanding of why Alabama has so little respect for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it carried out an execution while that court is reviewing the constitutionality of Alabama's death penalty protocol.
Alabama's murder rate rose from 5.6 per 100,000 in 2005 to 8.9 in 2007. Alabama executed several people both years, and the results in terms of public safety are obvious.
The death penalty inspires anger in all people, no matter what side you're on, and the result is an increase in violence in society. Studies have shown this to be true.
Yet today, as executions are decreasing around the country, and legislatures and governors are eliminating the death penalty, Alabama is sending people to death row. What's happening there?
Alabama's sorry law that allows a judge to overrule a jury and sentence death when the jury didn't may be part of the problem.
I urge you to call a moratorium on the death penalty.
The Rev. Jonathan C. Tetherly
Chicopee, Mass.
