News reports have confirmed that Ronnie Lee Gardner, who had been convicted of murder in Utah in 1985, was executed there this morning by firing squad. The report of the execution – which is not pleasant reading – gives a fairly graphic account of the manner of death.
It seems to me that it is not compatible with modern civilised values to operate the death penalty. It helps to create and maintain a coarser society in which the penal system bases itself excessively on principles of vengeance rather than justice. It is my hope that this form of punishment will soon be abandoned by the United States, which in so many other ways has led the civil rights movement in the world.
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