Letters to the Editor: Human judgment is imperfect. That’s why the death penalty is wrong

To the editor: I recall an interview I heard once with an appeals court judge. He said he never met the parties, neither the accused nor the family of the victim, but rather he only reviewed the documentation of the cases and trials. (“Executions of the conceivably innocent are no better than human sacrifice,” Sept. 21)

He said that in death penalty cases, most were not crimes of passion but acts so horrendous that the guilty could no longer claim to be part of the human race. He supported the death penalty in these cases.

This view is, I think, perfectly understandable.

Yet, I ask: Do you believe in the perfect infallibility of human judgment? If not, then you must admit that the judgment of juries and courts might be wrong.

I would rather pay the cost of life imprisonment without parole than take the risk — however small — that an innocent person is executed. We needn’t argue whether execution or life imprisonment is less expensive.

Bob Wieting, Simi Valley

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To the editor: When I saw the headline of your editorial, I thought you must have changed your position on abortion. Clearly, no one can dispute the unborn are conceivably innocent.

KC Jones, Santa Ana