DEAR EDITOR:

Have you heard the news? The state of Ohio has not carried out an execution since 2018, partly because of a judicial system mired in “endless” appeals, and a “lack” of so-called lethal injection drugs being caused by pharmaceutical companies refusing to deliver/supply execution drugs to state prison officials. Liberal Ohio lawmakers keep attempting to abolish the death penalty in this state. I bet none of them has lost a family member to heinous acts of violence at the hands of another. Some crimes should cost the lives of those guilty of said crime.

I will be one of the first to state that “everyone should be presumed innocent until proven guilty,” and that everyone should have an appeal process to their sentence. Frivolous appeals, on the other hand, seem to be the order of the day when dealing with capital murder cases, not only in this state, but nationwide. Many liberal judges view the death penalty as excessive punishment, but when executions were carried out in public, murder rates were a lot lower than now. When the public could “witness” the fulfillment of a death sentence, there was a respect for the law as well as human life.

Some people decry any methods of execution other than lethal injection, but there are many other ways to effectively complete a death sentence. In past times, public hangings were the order of the day. When properly conducted, a hanging is one sure way to successfully fulfill a death sentence. Don’t like using rope to hang someone? Then use piano wire. The head of the convicted will be removed from the body and death quickly follows. Firing squads have long been used to execute people all over the world, with the same results, swift death.

A death sentence being carried out isn’t a “punishment” to those convicted, it is the removal of a threat to society. If this is done frequently enough, there will be less innocent victims out there, and future possible offenders know that their potential actions can and will cost them their own lives.

JIM FLORENCE

Windham