Andrea LeBlanc

NH House Criminal Justice and Safety Commission NH House of Representatives January 11, 2026 Dear Chairman and Committee Members, I am writing to you in regard to the four bills (HB 1749, 1413, 1737, and 1730) you will consider on January 14 and 15 all of which deal with reinstating the death penalty in NH which was abolished on May 30, 2019. The issue of the death penalty is enormously important and one I know you will not take lightly. My husband, Robert G. LeBlanc, Professor Emeritus of Geography at UNH, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001 in the second plane that was flown into the WTC. Since that day I have thought a great deal about what, if anything, I believe to be absolutely true. One thing I do know to be true, without any doubt, is that violence begets violence. It has been my great good fortune to have met in the course of these past 24 years many many remarkable people from all around the globe who have been victims of one sort of violence and terrorism or another, and who have all chosen to work for nonviolent solutions to the conflicts they face. I have repeatedly heard from all of them their fervently held contention that there can be no peace without justice and, moreover, that revenge is not the same as justice. Revenge is all too often the motivating force behind the decisions we make about how to respond to the terrible things that happen to us. Revenge serves no purpose in actuality. It does not undo the harm that has occurred. It does not make us happy once again. I have come to realize that societies, ours included, have often normalized revenge as the accepted and indeed expected course of action to be taken in the name of the victim. Retaliation is sometimes called “necessary” for people to “get over” the trauma and loss, something I reject unequivocally. The very idea that this is not true is sometimes seen as an aberration. When the Amish community took in the family of the man who murdered their daughters in 2006, the news was about how amazing this was. What was amazing to me was that their action should be seen as amazing. What are we as a society saying when we seek revenge and see compassion as aberrant? If the 9-11 hijackers were, in fact, not already dead, I would not want them to be executed. What would it serve except to make me a killer as well? My husband opposed the death penalty his entire adult life for all the reasons opponents today give. I opposed the death penalty for all these same reasons. Now having been confronted with, not just the theoretical, but the real question about what I would feel if faced with a terrible crime against someone I loved dearly, I am even more certain that I oppose the death penalty. The death penalty is about revenge rather than justice, it is racist and prone to error, it leaves no opportunity for rehabilitation and makes us all killers. Please, take this one important step toward making this a kinder, saner world and do not pass any legislation that would reinstate the death penalty in New Hampshire. Gratefully, Andrea N. LeBlanc 72 Snell Rd. Lee, NH 03861