Henry [Heller, Executive Director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty],

This is an unexpected position. As I look at our issue, I feel it is necessary to be sensitive to as many sides as possible. Sometimes, the no holds barred way in which the activism progresses, justified and fueled by the fact that a life is at stake rolls over others equally deserving of respect and compassion with devastating results.

I am not the only victim of violent crime who thought the Benetton ads were tasteless and self-serving. The agony of the victims must continually be a component of the anti-death penalty movement if it is to maintain its credibility. Indeed, we state repeatedly in published positions that it is a primary concern, however I have seen and heard inmates practically canonized by those fighting for their life, and here given recognition far beyond what they deserve in a public display of advertising gimmickry. When this happens, others, often those even more emotionally helpless than the inmates receiving a wide variety of public and high-profile support, suffer enormously.

For those on death row, I will fight for their lives and their rights and commutation of their sentences to life in prison without parole. I will pray for their redemption and will work as I have strength to help them achieve it. However, I will not and cannot in good conscience hurt the people that they have hurt even further by dignifying their actions and crimes or by supporting them as commercial properties and marketing fads. Their victims deserve better than this, and, I believe, so do they.

The death penalty must be seen for what it is as a heinous, repugnant, uncompromising and revengeful punishment for crime in our society and must be abolished for many reasons. But, the people who are guilty of crimes unspeakable must always be seen for what they are as well. It does no good to whitewash their lives at the expense of their victims for that is misrepresentation and false witness. It will only galvanize the opposition on the side of those who are seen as being most helpless. Victims victimized repeatedly will always trump the inmate in this regard in the public eye.

I approve of Sears' decision and hope Benetton will drop the campaign. The marketing scheme has had a pronounced negative impact on the lives and emotions of people who have already been through hell on earth and is perceived as such by the general public. I fear that kind of Madison Avenue awareness this movement does not need if it is going to remain true to its stated mission. Our efforts must always be perceived as positive and effective, and above all, we must make every effort to avoid collateral damage if we are to maintain the respect of a public which knows only too well how vulnerable all of us are to criminal intent and action.

In respectful disagreement,

Bill Jenkins (electronic mail, February 26, 2000).