In the words of Voltaire…”It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers must be punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
How can Justice be synonymous with murder and revenge? Barbarically, it is. And in many parts of the world is oft referred to as the death penalty. In Christian scripture, its known as “eye for and eye”. To some, allegiance to the “death penalty is justice” notion is a result of faith in a system or an idea, instead of faith in humanity. And to the American criminal justice system, it’s still in use. But most importantly, the death penalty can be fueled by great pain from those who are the surviving loved ones of someone who was murdered or hurt or a victim themselves. The pain, suffering and loss of a loved one is something that many cannot understand, and that’s a good thing. Because the criminal justice system shouldn’t be guided by pain and suffering, personal experience, or vengeance, but often is.
Knowledge about the human condition, scientifically and socially, are the forces that should guide our criminal justice system and certainly a policy that is so severe, that cannot be undone, and that is with all due respect, a very uncivilized practice. A practice that must be carried out with actual humans, ones who judge, ones who condemn, and one(s) that partake in the murder (or shall say “administer the lethal injection”). Oh, and we mustn’t forget… those who watch the condemned be put to death, some eagerly, some because they are getting paid.
If Justice is about fairness, equitability, safety and self-determination(among other things), how can it be equated with punishment too (and state-sponsored murder nonetheless)? This is where we do ourselves a disservice, conflating two very different ideas using the same vocabulary and the same system to achieve both.
While support for the practice of state-sponsored murder is falling across the nation, in fact, it is at a twenty year low, it is not clear why at this point. Could it because the tide is changing on views of the death penalty, the many exonerations over the years of the wrongly convicted, botched executions, cost of capital trials, option for life without parole sentences, perhaps a little bit of everything? Either way, that doesn’t mean support for the death penalty won’t ebb and flow into the future.
The death penalty isn’t justice and not just because it kills innocent people, is racist, or targets the poor, but the ones who may be “most eligible” are never on the receiving end. Why does is spare the people who commit the most heinous of acts? The ones who commit or order the mass murder of hundreds, thousands, or millions of people in order to rule over others, steal lands and plunder resources? They often come with titles like, presidents/prime ministers, kings/queens, priests/imams/rabbis, soldiers, mercenaries, you catch my drift? Being socialized to accept war as “a part of life” and payment for one’s involvement doesn’t actually excuse murder ya know? Its funny, if you kill enough people, you are giving a country or congregation to lead, medals to adorn your uniform, holidays, payment, tax breaks, and worship.
In the words of Voltaire…”It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers must be punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
This recent blog post was inspired by Chapter 4 in the book, Domestic Genocide: The Institutionalization of Society, by Ivan Kilgore.