July 22.

Mr Robertson's rebuttal of John Macleod (July 17) misses the point.

Even assuming it is right to take a life for a life, capital punishment

is immoral because the state cannot guarantee to punish the guilty;

inevitably some who are innocent will be hanged. The action becomes

immoral as soon as an innocent person is killed, and society may never

know when that is.

On many matters it may be necessary for the law to work on the basis

of reasonable conviction or doubt but only because society cannot

function without decisions in disputes. Where human life is at stake,

however, that basis is not good enough. Society cannot afford to fail

even once -- no matter how effective the deterrent.

It makes no sense to have a system for saving lives which will

definitely involve the killing of innocents. It is hard to imagine a

greater injustice than the public death of an innocent. Yet, under

capital punishment, that is the one certainty. It is merely a matter of

time.

William Scott,

23 Argyle Place,

Rothesay.