THE SNIPER KILLINGS AND THE CALLS FOR EXECUTION

Since the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo as suspects in the East Coast sniper killings, the calls for their execution have been almost constant.

The sentiments -- expressed by private citizens and government officials alike -- have taken on a frenzied quality. Everyone seems to be trying to figure out which jurisdiction most "deserves" to kill the two; which has a statute that will enable it to kill the boy as well as the man; which would kill them with the greatest speed and certainty.

As yet, I have heard no voice raised to question these furious calls for execution - to question what it means for a civilized nation to be obsessively focusing its collective attention on the swiftest, surest way that we can take more life in response to horrible acts of murder. I wish to raise these questions here.
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thanks to wood s lot