I have just finished reading "The Penalty is Death" (September) by Luke Davies and I just wanted to let you know how moved I was by this piece.
 
Davies has brilliantly articulated the horror and grief I feel about capital punishment. The passage by Tolstoy echoes my own unreasoned objections. Sure, I could (and can) discuss the rational, political and theoretical reasons I believe capital punishment to be abhorrent, but none of them compare to my overwhelming bodily objection. Something in me profoundly despairs at the idea. Some might say it's a spiritual objection too, but there is something beyond that for me - something molecular.
 
This essay made me cry in some of the most unexpected places. The reference to the prisoners singing ‘Ave Maria' before Van Nguyen's execution; Sukamaran's little piles of paper; the dog in George Orwell's description of a hanging; McMahon's copy of Thomas More's prison writings. But the references to the mothers' anguish hit me hardest: Helen Chan's fervent focus on her son's happiness and her guilt; Rajini Sukamaran's plea for her son not to described as a being subsumed by his conviction - he is clearly so much more precious to her, and she should be allowed this dignity.
 
This essay shows clearly that in all these cases the most extraordinary act is also frighteningly easy and ordinary. A fact of law and process, like so many other things.