
          Bundy Killing No Cause for Celebration 
          By Collins, LeroyLeroy Collins 
          Vol. 11, No. 2, 1989, p. 10
          
          Since I have a long record of opposing the death_penalty, I have
been asked what my reactions are to the Theodore Bundy execution.
          I have made very clear my reasons for opposing the death
penalty. In the first place I believe it is no deterrent to
crime. There are many who do not accept this, but almost all the
criminologists who have studied this issue and even the U.S. Supreme
Court have concluded that the theory of deterrence cannot be
supported. In confirming this I would point out that while many of our
states have the death_penalty, others do not, and the indications are
that the crime rates of those who have no death_penalty are no higher
and in a majority of these the rates are lower, than in states that do
have the death_penalty.
          Take two states--Texas and Massachusetts. In Texas since the death
penalty has been reinstated, the murder rate has gone up, whereas in
Massachusetts where there is no death_penalty, over the same time the
rate has gone down.
          Now I don't contend that if we in Florida abolish the death_penalty
our murder rate (which has recently increased rapidly) will come down
because of that fact. But the fact remains there has been no plausible
study that could lead one to conclude that having the penalty deters
would-be murderers.
          Now the Bundy execution, I accept. He was guilty of a long series
of gruesome, heinous murders of innocent young children and women. The
death_penalty is a part of our law, and if anyone has ever deserved
it, he did. And I felt with our citizens generally, a sense of relief
that he can never, under any circumstances, kill again.
          As a citizen, however, I felt ashamed and embarrassed over some of
the macabre demonstrations of jubilation. The shouts of joy, the
parties and epithets that were screamed, were indeed reminiscent of
the Roman spectacles of passion by the crowds eagerly assembled to
witness executions of that period. I couldn't imagine anyone feeling
joyous in the act of our state destroying a human life.
          I am quietly accepting the execution of the law of our state. I
learned this being governor and having the sworn duty to enforce the
law, whether I liked or approved of a specific law or not. In fact, as
governor I recommended the abolishment of the death_penalty. But the
majority of the legislators, representing the people of Florida too,
saw it differently and declined to accept my recommendation. I did not
try to put myself above the law. In fact, the state executed more
people during my administration than in the administrations of all the
governors combined who have succeeded me. Yet with every signing of a
death warrant, I was distressed.
          So Bundy has been executed. He was given the full penalty provided
under the law. By his multiple heinous crimes, he deserved such under
that law.
          The execution saddened me. I do not exult in it. I think the
exuberance and joyous party atmosphere it stimulated in some quarters,
was in itself the reflection of a sickness.
          The English experience remains impressive to me. With all their
problems, they abolished the death_penalty many years back. Their
crime rates, their murder rates, are very small in comparison to those
of the United_States.
          I am still opposed to the death_penalty. This form of society's
revenge runs counter to my nature. After all, we are all children of
God, even the sickest among us.
          
            LeRoy Collins served as governor of Florida from
1955-1961. A life fellow of the Southern_Regional_Council, he writes a
weekly column for the St. Petersburg Times, where these
comments originally appeared.
          
        
