Death Penalty

Joseph F. McCormack, chairman of the Massachusetts Parole Board and an opponent of capital punishment, has authored a valuable piece of legislation. He is asking the 1967 General Court not to repeal the death penalty, but merely to examine the chief argument of those urging its retention -- its efficacy as a crime deterrent.

He proposes that the Court create a special commission to conduct the study -- the results of which could have wide-ranging repercussions. And at the same time, the Court should, according to McCormack, forbid all executions -- not death sentences -- during the life of such a commission.

Under continuous pressure from police officials and other lobbyists, the Court has in the past refused to repeal the death penalty. And under present circumstances it is unlikely to reverse itself. But as a public institution, the Massachusetts legislature has never been averse to the gathering and analysis of information on important public issues. Chairman McCormack's proposal -- in the absence of a climate suitable for the repeal of the penalty -- should and ought to be passed easily by the Court next month.

The Massachusetts Executive Council, in a related move, acted wisely and generously Wednesday when it voted to grant convicted murderer Charles E. Tracy a six-month respite from execution. In December, 1963, Tracy was sentenced to die for the shooting of Patrolman James J. Gallagher in a Boston bank on May 25, 1962. He was to have been electrocuted this month.

The Council acted humanely itself by overruling the majority of the Parole Board. It recognized what a horrible injustice it would have been to have allowed an execution this month while a real chance exists next month that the General Court may suspend the death penalty.