According to today's Boston Globe, one police official in South Africareferred to the killing of 11 would-be robbers as "splendid work."Since the shootout in Johannesburg ended in what is being considered a rousing success, people have started emphatically talking about lifting the ban on the death penalty. What's worse? Living in a country where the rate of violent crime can paralyzecitizens with fear? Or living in a country that celebrates the death and murder of those that cause the fear?

Marianne L. Tierney is a PhD student in theology at Boston College.

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