Abolishing death penalty was right

I have often said, after reading of a particularly heinous crime, that I could “throw the switch” to usher the perpetrator out of this life, and go home and enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.

When I have said it, I have meant it. Nevertheless, I believe that Gov. Quinn is doing the right thing to abolish the death penalty in Illinois. It is an unavoidable truth that the death penalty has taken the right to live here on earth away from innocent people. We are fallible. Our system of justice is an adversarial system which necessarily brings into play the corrupting influence of self interest among the participants, including witnesses.

The fallibility of the system cannot be eliminated. Killing innocent people, even just a few, is too high a price to pay for the visceral enjoyment we all share when one of the worst of the worst “gets his.”

Al Kirkland Jr.

Elgin