LETTERS: DEATH PENALTY UNDERMINES VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE

To the editor:

Wednesday's paper reported that a jury in Kenya deadlocked about imposing the death penalty for one of those responsible for the bombing of our embassy. They were concerned, and rightly so, that they would be creating a martyr. Other governments have found that to be true, to their sorrow.

In our country, revenge is considered a legitimate excuse to kill someone. Of course, sometimes we kill the wrong person, but what the heck if 8 percent or 9 percent did not do what they were executed for? That is the price we (not you or I, of course) must pay for justice.

Life must be precious to us as a society, if we are a society worth preserving. We should not deprive anyone of life, even if that person, in our limited view of things, believes he deserves it.

Unfortunately, I do not believe we have heard the last of Waco, Ruby Ridge or the name Timothy McVeigh.

ROBERT LUCAS

Cape Girardeau