Seeking out true justice

10:31am Monday 14th July 2008

JUST a couple of points from John B Holland's letter, published last week.

Mr Holland thinks that prison isn't a deterrent and should be made one.

The fact is that recidivism among the merely punished is higher than it is among those who've received rehabilitation and --in particular - been made to face their victims and the consequences of their crimes, where this is possible.

He also thinks that capital punishment should be brought back for certain types of murder.

One might logically think that the death penalty would be the ultimate deterrent to would-be murderers. Was it? No, it was not. Did it make the families of victims feel better? By and large, because it did nothing - either to bring back the victims or to lessen the trauma to those families, it didn't.

Whether you want to call it justice, or vengeance, if killing is wrong, then killing is wrong, full stop.

Val Gaize, Studley

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