I seek to present another view to the column by Kathleen Parker in Sunday’s Times. She sought to present a condemnation of capital punishment using the recent execution of Troy Davis as her evidence. There are strong points to be made on both sides of his case but I seek to bring light, not just heat, to the larger issue upon which the logic she presents fails completely.

Kathleen Parker is a fine writer. She is thoughtful, cogent, and at times persuasive. But in this one column, she has brought shadow upon her normally admired attributes by penning perhaps her most intellectually sterile paragraph in recent memory. She writes, “Never mind the other factual arguments that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent ...”

I step forward to demonstrate how wrong she is. From the moment the poison flows into the vein of the killer, he is absolutely and forever deterred from harming another of us or from killing again.

Capital punishment is indeed the most effective deterrent devised with which to deal with those who traffic in violence and killing. No other form of punishment known to man has proven even close to the effectiveness of capital punishment to deter those who murder. All other forms to which a killer may be sentenced for punishment leave the killer among us with the possibility to kill again, either in society or inside prison.

When Ms. Parker succeeds in finding life without error or any judicial system which perfectly excludes doubt, perhaps she will announce to all its location. Until that day, we ask her to remember that effectiveness is judged by results.

Capital punishment’s results are that those who have taken life are forever removed from among us. Nothing brings a more effective deterrent to those who do so.

Michael Hawkins
Murrayville