Debating the death penalty in the Washington Post

Today's Washington Post contains a brief letter I wrote in response to the November 10th execution of DC Sniper John Allen Muhammad. It is preceded on the page by another letter on the same subject in which the writer appears to favor the death penalty. It's an interesting contrast.

The editors shortened my own letter to save space, but my point remains intact. Here is the text of my letter as it appears in the Post:

John Allen Muhammad has been executed. His punishment is over. Meanwhile, his victims are still dead.

So is the death penalty truly a matter of justice or merely revenge?

Mary Shaw, Philadelphia

>> View the two letters on the Washington Post website.