Race and The Death Penalty

It is disheartening to read that the Supreme Court decided discrimination was not proved in capital-punishment cases, even though a study showed that blacks who killed whites were the most likely to receive the death penalty ((LAW, May 4)). Perhaps some future, more enlightened Supreme Court will finally take state governments out of the business of killing their citizens. Until then, the U.S. will continue to be among the few Western industrialized nations retaining the ultimate obscenity, the death penalty. The decision leaves us aligned with such paragons of civilized behavior as the Soviet Union, Iran and Libya.

John L. Tidball

Lincoln, Neb.