Capital punishment
Sir: The correspondence in your columns regarding the possible reintroduction of capital punishment is as timely as it is interesting.
No one, who is neither a sadist nor a brute, could wish for the return of the mediaeval trappings of condemnation: the black cap; the hope of mercy; the statutory fortnight devoted to hypothetical spiritual repentance; the final 'hearty breakfast '; the pinioning and the gallows. This is all old hat just as it is a supreme dodging of the practical issue.
The fact remains that, as we have had good reason to realise during the past few months, there are certain individuals who make no secret of the fact that they loathe the society, which frequently supports them, and who can 'only be described as leeches upon the body politic. Why should that body be corn pelled to keep such leeches alive and in comparative comfort? The technological society has provided simple and humane means for the taking of life without headlines or beat of drum. Why not employ such means? Save the pocket of the taxpayer? Consider the feelings of those personally concerned with the criminal?
Answers, if I may say so without undue offence, lie in that much-derided comment common sense. After all, the thug who has killed and is killed can kill no more.
Val Gielgud Barcombe, Lewes,
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