The Death Penalty: A minor tackle of a big issue.

This post is in response to a series of comments made here on an interesting post. The subject in the commentary deals more specifically with the death penalty. Like abortion, this issue is not one where I could simply win over people to my side with a passionate line of reasoning, however persuasive. Still, I’d like to further draw out the boundaries of my viewpoint, partly for my benefit and partly because I think the idea of the death penalty as draconian and cruel needs some defense (it’s two-against-one in the commentary section).

I will only just touch on the contention that there is a biblical basis justifying national execution, partly because many people have used the bible to justify their argument (one calls to mind the KKK members holding bibles on Jerry Springer) and mostly because I am no theologian. However, it strikes me as anathema to the overwhelming grace Jesus preaches throughout the New Testament, as my detractors have well pointed out. I also think that Jesus’ message was a personal one, not meant for consumption at a government level (“render unto Caesar….”) but as I pointed out, I am no theologian. The problem of using the Bible to justify capital, or even corporal punishment, is that it immediately dissociates other religions and creeds, many of whom would also have to die upon the sword and would find no comfort in Bible readings on their death beds.

What plants me firmly in the abolitionist camp, though, is the heinous record of wrongful convictions. Illinois alone found 13 wrongfully convicted inmates on death row (and subsequently suspended the death penalty). For me the argument stops here. How can you possibly kill a man if you aren’t absolutely sure he committed the crime? In many cases, emotions run high; the defendant can’t afford competent representation, et voila: death sentence. I’m sure that greater good of justice and the alleged deterrent capital punishment provides would hardly comfort a family when a miscarriage of justice occurs.

On that note, I can’t wrap my head around the idea of punitive justice as it relates to deterrence. Everywhere you go in the United States, prisons abound. Reminders of the penalty of one’s crime are everywhere. Certainly the justice system provides a curtain of civility where people understand to the consequences of stepping over to the other side and I don’t argue taking that away. But I can’t see a gang member (and certainly not a suicide bomber) saying to his compatriot, “dude, I can’t go through with this. Did you see what they did to that guy on the news?!”

As I said before, this discussion could consume days of conversation with no movement on either side, but I felt the abolitionist side needed a bit more bolstering. Even one person wrongly executed out of thousands is too many and that is tantamount to government murder.