Reply to Reply to "Death Penalty Vindicated"

Donkey,

I too believe that we're held to the higher law of forgiveness, but what God requires of us as individuals is not equivalent to what he requires of our society's system for administering justice. Certainly God intends that we as a society administer justice, and our system of justice is not unlike His system insomuch that "mercy cannot rob justice," with only one single exception. That exception is when a person exercises faith unto repentance. In that instance, mercy can satisfy the demands of justice. This exception for repentance is evident in our system of pardons, parole, and limitations of state sentencing laws.

Having said that, there are extreme instances of crime--specifically, murder--when our system of justice must demand the most sacred of a person's liberty--that is, life itself. But, how does demanding life as justice for murder make a society more vengeful or unforgiving than demanding life in prison, as you suggested? The only logical answer to this question is that it's a question of the degree of the punishment, the death penalty being more extreme than life in prison. But under that reasoning, wouldn't life in prison as justice for murder make us more vengeful and unforgiving than, say, 6 months in prison? Yet certainly you wouldn't claim that our society would be less vengeful and unforgiving if we limited the prison term of a vicious killer to 6 months. Consequently, imposing a life sentence does not make us more vengeful or unforgiving than imposing a 6-month prison term. Simply put, we impose a life sentence (or the death penalty) because that's the punishment that we as a society have determined that justice demands, not because we are being more vindictive or unforgiving.

Indeed, in many cases where the death penalty is warranted, I do not think the death penalty satisfies all that justice demands, but it's the only tool we have at our earthly disposal which comes close. We leave the rest to God.

On a more secular note, you may want to read some interesting research from the past six years that indicates the death penalty is a deterrent to crime.

--Elephant