Q: What is your position on capital punishment?

A: As for my opinion, I have a very difficult time supporting violence either at the institutional or individual level. I certainly understand based on Romans 13:4, "But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain!"

However, the fact that a pagan government like Rome could kill people does not mean that it should. Second, the fact is that our legal system has two levels of justice, one for the rich and another for the poor. This inequity means that poor people will be killed much more frequently than rich (regardless of ethnic origin; however, since poverty lines also run across ethnic lines, I find this uncomfortable as well). Third, capital punishment has proven to be a failure in reducing crimes -- it may punish well, but it doesn't prevent further crimes. Fourth, it has been proven that we are sometimes wrong in our convictions and the thought of putting innocent people to death is horrible. Fifth, America is the only industrialized nation that has not yet given up on the death penalty. Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying we should forgive and forget because Jesus did. I'm not in that sort of position.

On the other side of the fence, Capital punishment does have as its advantage the ultimate punishment for the most egregious crimes. In some ways that might bring closure for victims. It is also more cost effective than life-time imprisonment. In balance, I find these two positive advantages for capital punishment to be less weighty than the five arguments against it above.

See also my notes on the death penalty in my Essays section here.

top | home