Editor, Times-Dispatch:
New Mexico has done the right thing by repealing its death penalty.
Capital punishment has never been an effective deterrent to capital
crime. The millions wasted on it would be better used for crime
victims' services, crime prevention programs, and increased
crime-fighting equipment and personnel for police and other law
enforcement agencies.
Under our current economic crisis, lawmakers must take a closer
look at all programs, and eliminate those which are unworkable. The
death penalty is unworkable; we get it wrong too often, it isn't fairly
applied, and it shifts the focus away from victims. Moreover, it
contains no protections against wrongful convictions and executions.
One hundred thirty men and women have been exonerated from death row
from 1973 to the present, including Earl Washington Jr. right here in
Virginia. I call on Gov. Kaine and the members of the General Assembly
to stop death penalty expansion and take a closer look at our system.
We can do better for Virginia and for victims' families.
Beth Panilaitis. Richmond.
