Musing on the Death Penalty
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
This is going to be completely outside of my normal purview. It will be written entirely out of my head with (probably) no citations or outside truth to muddy up my thinking.
You are correct, I’m fired up. It’s a topic that is important to me and that I have spent more than a little time codifying my position. Some of it may surprise you, but it is 100% me. The tipping point was an excellent article from my friend @zen-art. I now have to write this in order to get anything else done, it seems.
First: I am adamantly opposed to the death penalty. Those of you looking for affirmation might be well advised to save your time and move on to another article.
Second: This is written from MY perspective. That would be Judeo-Christian upbringing in the United States of America. 15 years as a practicing Buddhist will also be reflected.
Let me be perfectly clear. Society, any society, has a right/responsibility to legislate and follow any doctrine that the society sees fit. That includes killing it’s citizens for various and sundry reasons. The fact that we have been doing so for millena and it still doesn’t do anything to prevent the killing of citizens by the government or other civilians is just an inconvenient truth.
The man Jesus Christ was killed by the Roman backed government of Israel for sedition. That would be speaking out or acting out against said Roman backed government. He was not unique in that way. A few years after his execution the Romans crucified 2000 per day for a period of time. The crosses lined the main road into Jerusalem, providing quite a spectacle.
The ‘Great’ religions of the world all have some things in common. Not the least of these are immutable rules given by whichever deity to provide clarity and direction to the masses.
One that is common to all is “Do Not Kill”. You can look it up.
In the case of Christianity and Judaism it was important enough for God to write it in his own hand on a tablet of stone. That seems to me to be fairly direct and unambiguous.
The ‘Enlightened One’ gave Buddhism 4 rules. Do Not Kill was number one on the list.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is the most common reason given for execution and killing. It is interpreted as “You kill someone, we kill you.” Unless of course, the someone you kill is on the ‘prescribed for killing’ list, in which case we will reward you.
Did you even realize that “An eye for an eye” is a relatively obscure and specific punishment from the Talmud for a specific action? That being “If two men are fighting and they inadvertently damage a pregnant woman and the baby has damage as a result THEN it shall be punished by taking an eye from each fighter, or a tooth from each fighter or whatever is damaged on the baby.” Please note that it is specific to a pregnant woman and, in fact, has no regard for the woman. Only for the unborn child.
None of the above has really any bearing on why I am so opposed to the death penalty. My opposition is really based on administration of the code. It is NEVER administered fairly. In this country it is well known that the whiter you are and the more money you have the less chance you have of being executed.
Think of that. Really mundane factors are the deciding factors when it comes to the death penalty. Not the crime itself, not the severity/intensity of the crime, but the color of your skin and the amount of money you can pour into your defense.
I would submit that humans can NEVER administer the death penalty fairly. The only logical way would be “If you kill someone you must die” but we all know that is not the case.
According to all reports (well, the only report we have) there was no asterisk on that stone tablet to provide for excuses or justification for killing another. Simply a prohibition. The fact is that we, as a race, can’t seem to follow that simple missive. Legally or illegally the slaughter goes on. In my opinion the legalization of killing for revenge not only does not deter the process, it encourages it. “This guy has a killing coming. What difference does it make if it’s me or the government? I might as well save some tax dollars.”
All the words in this post are mine. For better or worse.
The photograph is properly sourced and licsensed. The text breaks are open source.
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Killing is wrong and the death penalty is wrong as well. Two wrongs have never made a right as I see it.
I half ass touched on this subject myself this morning in talking about religion and religious wars. I didn't even see this of yours before I wrote the Daily Dose so it is quite a coincidence we ended up touching on the same subject. I will say that yours is definitely the better of them for sure.
I agree. There is simply no way to make that equation balance.
I also worry about what if that person was wrongly convicted? There are so many cases where someone has been put on death row but has been adamant that they are not guilty the whole time, then after their execution, DNA evidence etc can actually prove that they were NOT the murderer after all! Does that then make the person who administered the death penalty a murderer? Should we then go on to kill them too?
I don't think humans are pure enough of mind and heart to make the decision of whether or not to take the life of a another human being. We can't even run countries properly so how on earth we think we are capable of playing god, I will never know!
That is certainly part of the administration of the punishment. I just don't think humans can ever administer other humans and get it right.
I am not saying I disagree with you, but I think the general depravity of society makes it hard for us to consider any alternative. I will give an example of this in a second. It is funny that most conservatives who are for the death penalty should really be the ones to acknowledge forgiveness. For me the idea of redemption comes into play a lot. I also think that death penalty cases are targeted on the wrong offenses. Here is my example. I can wrap my head around someone killing another person and later feeling remorse about that and truly repenting and thus not receiving the death penalty much more than the headline I saw the other day where a guy sexually assaulted a sixteen month old baby. Again, I don't really support the death penalty, I think there is a God that will handle punishments at the appointed time. It is thought provoking though.
I agree. The possibility of redemption has to be taken into consideration, but it still leaves humans in charge of the administration and they are not capable of that task on any sort of consistent basis.
I am certainly not advocating no punishment. My entire argument against the death penalty is based on administration of same.
I am also against the death Penalty and always will be and you present a very good case against it here
Thank you. I appreciate your support and participation.
Ok, I am glad you were inspired to write this, it says a lot about your view on the topic and I am happy you have shared them with us. I hope more and more people would see that killing is always wrong in any situation (and that wars will become a thing of the past).
I have to say it. I am not entirely against killing. If my family is threatened I will defend at whatever level I can, including killing if necessary.
Even the original Buddha spoke about self defense. I'll take my chances with a jury in that case.
"There has to be some things worth dying for, else there is nothing worth living for"
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Im also against the state murdering people guilty or not...
Selfdefense thats a whole different ball game...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts @bigtom13
/FF
Of course, self defense is another matter completely. But. Is killing somebody while stealing your car self defense? Can you kill in self defense if you act first? (The "I was in fear for my life" defense.
It just all boils down to administration to me. If we could administer fairly there would really be no need for the 4 levels of appeal in Capital cases.
This is a very serious topic, selfdefense, I guess it's often word against word in these complicated situations, witnesses, motives etc... Whos wrong, who's right, whats right...
Violence is bad, that is something most of us can agree on...
But yeah if a person wearing a ski-mask holding a baseball-bat kicks down my door and enters my place by force, I would probably use my "Wakizashi" (mini katana) real fast in self defense.
Hypothetically a strong pepper-spray is also good, since it's non-lethal, but then after using it you better run, or if you think you can, try to make a Citizen's arrest, maybe... 😕 And maybe end up being charged with assault and kidnapping, ha ha... 🤷🏻♂️😅
/FF
It's pretty easy for me. You break into my house when I'm there you are going to get shot.
I guess you are in your full right to do so. 😯
I would probably (if there was time, and depending on the situation, warn the person who was trying to break in first, to give them the opportunity to get the hell out of there)...
/FF
Just going to put out a couple of points.
In Hebrew, it is "Thou shalt not murder," rather than "Thou shalt not kill."
The Old Testament is filled with prohibitions punishable by death.
This has nothing to do with my stance on the issue, but these two things, if one is going to rely on the bible, should be pointed out.
Hmmmmm. That changes the narrative some, but not the conclusion. I did not realize that the original was 'do not murder'.
I knew, of course, of the crimes punishable by death in the bible. I do acknowledge that a Society has the right to legislate what ever prohibitions it deems fit for itself.
In matters like this I try not to rely on the bible as a single source. Josephus touched on the execution of the man Jesus Christ.
Entirely aside: I'm always really glad to see you, my friend.
I'm always saddened that our country, usa, still has the death penalty, when most 'first world' nations do not. We also have more people in prison than China , not by percentage, but actual numbers...sad.
Yes, it makes me sad too. The number of people incarcerated is a separate issue in my mind, but it certainly reaches toward the problem of administration. Or maybe it's symptomatic.
So much of what you say here is true, especially:
Thanks for writing your truth here, it resonates for me!
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I don't often write this sort of thing, I have a tendency to keep to myself, but it's a subject that is never too far from my mind.