Hopefully, TJ Ray’s reasoned critique of the death penalty (March 11, 2016) will open a dialogue on eliminating the death penalty, not only in this state, but in every other state in the union.

A previous editorial in the EAGLE on protecting the privacy of executioners and pharmaceutical companies which furnish the lethal cocktails suggests that there may be a level of shame in participation in the state-sponsored killing of a human being.

Aside from the moral issue, there are two prime reasons against continuing the program: legal and financial. The possibility of even one innocent person convicted through an imperfect judicial system and sentenced to death, is, in itself, sufficient justification for eliminating the program.

The money expended on maintaining capital punishment with the logistical cost and that of inevitable appeals would be better spent on funding an adequate public educational system, providing for early, quality childhood education and better teacher pay; if so, perhaps there would be less crime in the first place.

Jeff Justis

Oxford