To the editor:

It is time that Kansas does as Illinois did recently and rescind the death penalty. As Scott Turow recently spoke to the Kansas Bar Association telling of his role in that action in Illinois, I became aware we must face this issue aggressively.

As a minister I have never favored such action. It is contrary to the Gospel of Christ and a mandate of the Old Testament. How we as a culture interpret “Thou shalt not kill” as OK is beyond my understanding. As a therapist I am deeply aware that such action is destructive to families and communities.

On the other hand, we regularly execute innocent persons in this act; 138 persons who have spent years on death row have been exonerated from death row in recent years. That is reason enough to never let it happen again. How many more would be alive today if we had modern science in past years that would save them? Kansas must take all this seriously.