[Letters] Death penalty can be justified

In response to a recent letter on capital punishment, I believe that capital punishment is an appropriate action in cases of murder.

The state could save massive amounts of money as opposed to the costs of maintaining a prisoner for life in a state run facility.

However, my greatest disagreement with those opposed to capital punishment is in the area of deterrence. Capital punishment is definitely a deterrent especially for repeat offenders. In fact there would be no repeat offenders if murderers were executed.

Years ago my grandfather was visiting his cottage in a lake area of Canada. He had his head bashed in with a baseball bat while he was weeding his garden.

The man who killed him was free on weekend parole for good behaviour. He was in prison for the murder of a woman five years earlier. Had he been executed, my grandfather would be alive today.

Had this convicted criminal faced capital punishment, we could guarantee that he would have been deterred from committing the crime.

Whether the execution of a man would deter another from committing a crime may be up for debate, but to me, the case of capital punishment visited on first time offenders would definitely deter a repeat murder.

David Woelke, Busan