
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 26, 1994                   TAG: 9403040022
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFLY PUT . . .

BOTH HOUSES of the General Assembly have passed a bill allowing death-row inmates to choose to die by lethal injection as opposed to electrocution. Gov. Allen says he'll sign the bill. Supporters of the measure argued, with some cause, that lethal injection is the more humane form of execution. "The objective of capital punishment is death, not violent, torturous vengeance," says Sen. Edgar Robb, R-Albemarle, who has witnessed an execution.

But this is at best a tiny victory for humanity. Indeed, juries may even be less hesitant to impose the death penalty if they're convinced it won't "hurt." No form of capital punishment is humane. The state is an agent of final vengeance, whatever the method.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

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