European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 letters the stars and stripes writers respond to stand on death penalty a _ t _  lalj"llivrft4 san �4 is Vuk i am responding to a recent letter altered state giving an argument backing capital i agree with your passion and i a punishment. Preci ate your Candor. Even your exam there is no denial that emotions run pies Are Incont Stingly Good. But be High when vicious criminals Are caught careful when you give the Power of life and treated As everyday citizens even and death without considering the human condition. Him when they admit and even brag about their crimes. In a society where news of these demented activities Sells a lot of copy and boosts to ratings the Rush to participate in the death carnival seems to trample reality. The reality is that on of the things that supposedly makes us a civilized nation is the Way we Dis Pense Justice. Another is that our government is of by and for the  Don t steal we Don t steal. They Don t lie we Don t lie. They Don t kill we Don t kill. Neither we nor they Are perfect. The argument of the economics of maintaining prisoners in correctional facilities is so wrought with ignorance it does t Merit response. Maybe we should sell some $400 hammers to raise the Cash or ask George Shultz to Fly second class and sleep at they Mca. Give it a rest Man. There is no shortage of Money just honesty. Before anyone advocates giving Testate the authority to terminate the lives of its citizens of by. For and kill the people maybe a Quick review of history is in order countries where the state has unlimited authority Are among others the soviet Union Cuba the people s re Public of China Chile Republic of South Africa German democratic re Public Iran and others of similar re Pute. In the past this list included Argentina the japanese Empire and nazi Germany. Do we want to join this company i have been accused of being a toddler of criminals i have been subjected to the what if it happened to your sister scenario so Many times it in t funny. Sure i would probably want the kind of Justice that emotions cry out for. But to know this would be my re action just in the hypothetical makes me realize i am not qualified to decide matters of life and death in such an invest in life get a Puppy Start Garden teach your kids love and re Spect. And if you still get As mad about american Justice As you sounded in your letter maybe you should consider the effect on your health and welfare. Why i think you could be capable of violence. James a. Fiore Camp Darby Italy sentencing a criminal to death actually costs More than incarcerating him due to the Legal fees of appeals and does not Cost "29 cents As the writer says. His Eye for an Eye principle snot served by executing drug dealers child molesters and rapists unless the have killed someone and even there the principle of retribution has traditionally been made More civilized since the state does not want to put itself on the same level of brutality As the criminal. We do not have Public rapes for rapists and Public Molesta Tion for child molesters. Incarceration adds the feature that for a time we Are protected from this person s presence in society and presumably that we Are not As violent As he or she is. There is no conclusive evidence that capital punishment serves As a deterrent and actually some evidence that homicide rates have gone up around the time of Public  being More expensive there have been mistakes in sentencing the wrong person which adds up to Mur Der by the state. Add the fact that a inordinate number of persons from racial minorities now sit on death Row and the reasonable person must give pause. More than 90 percent of crimes i America Are committed by Young men from Ages 14 to 25, who live in inner cities and Are members of an ethnic minority. Does this writer think this is i i qua Irineu t ecu inc Cubics my Bic a Mucia 01 an Cummi no Muir a Ai minority i have never hear readers say Iran s acts Rule out payment has Congress forgotten about the 444 Days that Bow in the fear of terrorist actions. Right no american citizens were held hostage in Tehran Iran americans Are not so proud to be  because of some genetic Accident or held his victim captive for Many years waiting As the minutes and the hours ticked away toward his pre announce death. You argue with descriptions of such hideous murders As those of John Wayne Gacy. First those murder were not done by us or in our name or with our approval and our Power to Stop them was exceedingly limited. Every execution on the other hand i done by our paid servants in our collective name and we can Stop them , descriptions of murders Are relevant to the subject of capital punishment Only on the theory that two wrongs make a right or that killing murderers can satisfy their victims suffering or bring them Back to life or that capital punishment is the Best deterrent to murder. The proper question should be whether there is sufficiently convincing evidence that the death penalty deters murder better than does life imprisonment so that you Are willing to accept responsibility for doing the known evil act of killing human be Ings. You should also be aware of the difference in the kind of Justice Deal tout to Rich and poor Black and White when on trial for homicide. It is difficult to find cases where people of Means or social position have been executed. The wealthy Are Able to hire expert Legal counsel and Are almost certain to avoid the death penalty. But even if the death penalty were fair if the Rich were killed As freely As the poor i would still think it wrong based on the answer to a moral ques Tion. Is it morally legitimate for us Todo in a state of Calm reason what someone for whose actions we have scorn and contempt did in a state of passion or stupidity. I Don t believe that the death penalty does anyone in our society an Good. I Don t believe that it prevents deaths that it makes society better or nicer that it satisfies any moral need that it does anything in fact but pro Long a Faith in the effectiveness of Vio Lence As a solution to human problems. Debbie Burke Frankfurt West Germany some satanic people if so we charge of the mass executions. The writer s blood lust is not satisfied with respect to John Hinkley. It so happens that the jury in that Cas followed the Law exactly. The Burden was on the prosecutor to prove tha Hinkley was sane. Try to prove the sanity of someone who attempted to assassinate the president in order to win the love of a film actress he had the jury acted in the interest of society by showing that we Are in fact a society of Law and not impulse. It is a false conclusion when you infer from the undeniable horror of the various crimes in question that we should abandon the reason of Law. The horror of a crime shocking and appealing to our sense of revenge As it May be is no argument for barbarism. There Are Many problems with the american Legal system. This writer is not alone in making complaints. Buthis letter has t g9t a seed of constructive argument in it the real worlds More of a struggle in keeping humanity alive. In our treatment of criminals our obligation is to rudimentary Justice but equally at stake Isth fragile balance of our own humanity. William Kerr . Wiesbaden West Germany there is probably one bleeding hear Liberal for every 100 Steven r. Prop ers. On the other hand for every Ste Ven r. Proper who Speaks out there Are probably 100 liberals who Are More outspoken. I Hope to tip the Odds in or. Proper s favor by supporting his views. Michael w. Morgan Geilenkirche West Germany capital punishment is a fancy phrase for legally killing people. It Means taking living breathing Menand women stuffing them into a chair strapping them Down pulling a lever and exterminating them. All murders Are horrible things. Buti d of a murderer who has Congress forgotten that Iran openly condones these of terrorist acts to perpetuate its revolutionary goals against completely innocent individuals has Congress also forgotten that Iran is the Sam nation caught red handed mining merchant ship Ping lanes and overtly opening fire on any vessel no matter what its cargo or personnel May be what has happened to our once Strong nation have we become so preoccupied with what the rest of the world thinks of our actions that we should be limited to Mere condemnation of acts that involve death or destruction of property owned or operated by the United states Congress give your full support to the men an women who serve for your right to make decisions that affect All of the world. Proposals such As that of paying the families of the dead 290 passengers of Iran air flight 655 Are so preposterous in Light of the innocent fatalities caused by the iranian Pepple and their Loy  these same people would just As soon spit on the Tomb of the unknown Soldier after they have received their Money from the United states govern ment. Or Congress order the president to remove All Mili tary and for that matter diplomatic personnel from the areas of the world where the Chance for confrontation with an unfriendly people is a possibility. All of this is especially hard to digest if you re associated in any Way with any form of government service overseas. No person wants peace More than those who will risk their very lives for its preservation but there comes a time when turning the other Cheek Only allows another Opportunity for a blackened Eye. The world is watching As America takes yet another to Man american spec. Brian a. Clearwater Neu Ulm West Germany recent news of the White House s considering sensation to Iran for the Downing of Iran air flight 655 has caused me to write this dissenting opinion. I think before our country makes any decisions concerning this Issue we should remind ourselves of whom it is we re dealing with a terrorist nation that has caused american families enormous grief countless times before. For example this is a nation that held a ticker tape style Parade when More than 200 marines were killed in Beirut. This is also a nation that now openly Call for terrorist strikes against american targets All Over the world in retaliation for the destruction of their civilian Airliner. Does Iran plan to compensate the families of those marines or the families of those who will be affected by their future attacks i Don t think so. Iran is now clearly using this situation As a great source of propaganda and some experts feel Iran May have played a More Active role in this catastrophe. We made a mistake although it is one which As of yet we cannot accept total responsibility for. An apology was Given. But because of Iran s past record i fee that they have not shown themselves worthy of an apology let alone compensation. The fact that we Are even considering compensations a great Victory in Iran s Battle for sympathetic world opinion. I Hope that before any decisions Are made the nation s leaders will worry less about what the world thinks of us and More about the past atrocities of Iran. Sgt. Daniel r. Haacke Nurnberg West Germany reporting cases of abuse i have to get things out that have bothered me an certain people might recognize what i mean. In the past year i be gone through hassles on a child abuse Case. I m not sure what the final results were except that the child was helped. I want to Tell that family i did it to help not Hurt them. Although it is dreaming i wish that anyone who reports a Case could have the family still be Friend Sand they d say thanks you really helped us be a better  i too was an abused child mentally physically and sexually. It still has far reaching effects. I can t watch it happen to a child. I d report it again any time any Day i must say the hassles i got shocked me. Why be cause they came from my husband s unit where apparently a lot of you men and wives approve of child or spouse abuse. I say this because of the Way you All have and still Are treating me As if i were an alien lifeforms. It s of it bothers me no More. Only the child or spouse matters. People it does t matter if it happened to you you Don t have to repeat the sad Cycle As happens so often. Be you an american or German spouse there Are groups and friends who will care and help without criticizing. I never criticized your parenting Friend because i sure at heart you love your child. You were just having a hard time of it parenting is no easy task. You re Only expected to be human not superhuman. Please people report child abuse even if unfortunately you lose a Friend. Save a fellow human being from being permanently scarred mentally and physically suicidal or dead. Name withheld a Furnberg West Germany