WHAT WE NEED IS HARSHER SENTENCING

Following the letters for and against the re-establishment of the death
penalty, one is completely aware of the division within the community. Much
of this is created by a few bleeding hearts making a lot of noise and
getting more than their share of grease for their squeaky wheel.

But, what a gutless society we have developed into when, across the whole
spectrum of crime and punishment, the safeguards and sympathy appear always
to protect the criminal.

I have no problem with "degrees of murder'' as in the USA, but I have great
difficulty in understanding how anyone guilty of wilful and often violent
murder should not pay the ultimate price.

Drug suppliers preying on the lives and minds of others, including
adolescents, for the sake of profit should be subjected to the full wrath of
society.

I suggest that anyone carrying or trading with say 500g or more of heroin,
cocaine or amphetamines might think twice if the ultimate penalty for being
caught was a lethal injection from the state.

Let the penalty fit the crime!

F. J. Roberts, Queanbeyan