LETTERS: FELONS SHOULD REFLECT ON DEEDS, NOT BE EXECUTED

To the editor:

I am writing in response to the Feb. 7 letter about the death penalty. My social studies class was going over current events when we came upon the letter from the Rev. David V. Dissen. I know he is a very respected man, but I guess I see things differently.

Those people who are executed -- people who have committed a terrible, cold-blooded act -- how do they get punished? They get a shot. I think they should have to sit in their cell and think about what they have done and how their victims and families will never be the same again.

I believe that when we put those people to death, we are committing a crime just as they did. We don't have the authority to say who should die and who should not. We were not put on this earth to be God.

KATIE PORTER

Cape Girardeau