A heinous crime, a heinous penalty

The more heinous the killing, the more we must all oppose the death penalty. Many wonder why Brendt Christensen is even eligible to die for the torture murder of a visiting Chinese scholar in his Urbana apartment in 2017, since Illinois abolished the death penalty eight years ago. Alas, for us death penalty opponents, the authorities used the FBI's involvement in the death of a foreigner to move Christensen's case from state to federal jurisdiction where the death penalty lives on. Sure seems like that decision was taken simply to resurrect the gallows for a truly nasty murderer.

That's unfortunate. The death penalty was not abolished just to prevent an innocent person from being executed. Since Christensen has confessed some feel that reasoning is moot. What is not moot is that the death penalty is barbaric, hearkens back to a primitive view of justice, and makes every citizen involved or supportive of it a party to state sponsored murder. There will always be horrible individuals who will commit horrendous crimes. But there is no need for society to mimic such behavior simply to satisfy the bloodlust of John Q. Public. A hundred thirty-four countries have abolished the death penalty. The United States, which lays claim to being No. 1 in everything good, needs to become No. 135 in promoting life rather than death for the worst of the worst. That will help bring out our best as a civil, sane society.

Walt Zlotow

Glen Ellyn