Death penalty needed?

Stephen Gasteyer

Robert Zeis’ opinion-editorial (Feb. 2) is well researched and presents the majority of viewpoints on the issue of the death penalty. He is to be commended on the piece. However, I am afraid that I strongly disagree with his conclusion that we should reinstate this punishment in Iowa. He states in the article that it will neither deter murders nor save taxpayers money (because of the appeals process). So then we are left with the reasoning only that killing convicted murders is positive because it will allow relatives of victims to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.

And yet, my understanding of the sociological literature is that loved ones are rarely put at peace through the process of execution. I have known the relatives of victims of civil and political murders. The anguish of those losses is real, but the killing of the suspected perpetrator neither brings back loved ones nor diminishes that anguish. Violence and killing feeds a cycle of further violence and killing. Civilized societies should be striving to move beyond the base (and ultimately shallow) emotions that call only for revenge and not strength and redemption.


Stephen Gasteyer

Graduate student

Sociology