Witness Protection

With reference to the March 11 editorial regarding protecting witnesses to crime, I believe that the relocation and identity change measures proposed by Assemblyman Robert M. Hertzberg (D-Woodland Hills), together with the witness anonymity measure affirmed by the courts (Feb. 11) are essential, but don’t go far enough.

The radical changes in American society call for radical measures to enable society to regain order and safety for law-abiding citizens. The following would go far and cost society relatively little to provide witnesses more protection: 1) mandatory capital punishment for killing or attempting to kill a crime witness; 2) mandatory sentences of 25 years to life for making threats toward or conspiring to harm a witness or his or her family; and 3) mandatory increase of punishment to the next more severe punishment than prescribed by law, for the criminal beneficiary of any act to silence, intimidate or exact revenge upon a crime witness.

RICHARD M. TAKASE, Torrance