Infinite MonkeysToday Joe Carter wrote this post about the views of different Christians concerning the death penalty. I recently discussed this issue at one of my company's frequent poker nights.
I believe in capital punishment in principle, but do not believe it should be practiced in America (or, for all I know, any other country) at this time. I believe there are (at least) five criteria for the proper application of the death penalty:
1. It should be administered for the right reason, which is because the criminal deserves to be killed for their crime. Many people like to speculate about the deterrent value of certain punishments, but as C.S. Lewis has so ably pointed out, if deterrence is our motivation, then it doesn't matter if the accused is actually guilty - only that they are perceived as such. I will leave the list of crimes that aught to be punished by death for someone else - it's a bunny trail I don't care to go down right now. But the motivation for execution all too often seems to be some combination of revenge, deterrence, and "tough on crime" political posturing.
2. It should be administered fairly. The American justice system is hopelessly corrupt, and I have no confidence that the death penalty is being consistently applied or that the recipients are reliably guilty. Because of the motivations I mentioned in point one, the likelihood of unjust executions is unacceptably high.
3. It should be administered promptly. If the system is fairly convicting and sentencing criminals to death for the right reasons, then it should also waste no time in carrying out the sentence. Exhaust all appeals (quickly), give the criminal's family a chance to say their goodbyes, and get it over with.
4. It should be administered publicly. The public should have no question about what their government is doing, who they are doing to, and how they are doing it. The government executes criminals on behalf of the governed - that's the social contract, after all. We surrender our right to bring justice to our enemies with the understanding that the state will "wield the sword" on our behalf. Not only should we know it's happening, we should face what "we" are doing. When a democratic government kills, "we" are doing the killing and should face that fact squarely. Executions should be performed in front of the courthouse, for all to see.
5. It should be administered humanely. Our current common methods of execution are barbaric. Actually, they're worse than barbaric. Lopping someone's head off is profoundly more humane than pumping a conscious man full of excruciatingly painful and slow-acting chemicals. The most common legal means of execution are lethal injection, gas chamber, and electric chair. These are all horribly inhumane ways to kill someone in an age as technically advanced as ours. The MOB executes people more humanely than this. Firing squad, guillotine, and a simple bullet to the head are more humane than any of the methods we employ. And we have the means for much more humane killing. Consult Dr. Kevorkian on the matter if you have to.
Posted by RobbL at May 13, 2004 02:10 PM | TrackBack