TO THE EDITOR:
Thursday’s column about the Racial Justice Act missed the mark. Without taking a position, I see many good arguments against the death penalty (ranging from a number of those convicted being found not guilty later to the large cost burden it puts on states), but basing such a policy change off of racial biases is not the way to go.
I’m not saying we must forget our state’s troubled past regarding race nor that we should cease continued individual efforts to purge real, ugly racism from our culture. However, to ban the death penalty on the basis of “racial justice” inherently asserts a collective right instead of an individual one. Yet, it is the individual that needs protection.
Making arguments against the death penalty because it has multiple times violated the right to life of an individual later proven innocent seems much more persuasive than “racial justice.” So, if students truly want to stand against the death penalty, they should be calling for a new bill that would be rooted in individual liberty rather than our current law.
Peter McClelland ’15
Political science
History
