The Death Penalty is, undeniably, one of the most controversial issues of our day. Emotional tensions are high between those who hold human life above justice and those who hold justice above all human life. The Death Penalty, along with all other forms of criminal punishment, is barbaric. This form of punishment, indeed all forms of criminal justice, truly shows the level to which society has sunk. When people stand outside prisons and cheer as prisoners are murdered, there is a problem. When personal bloodlust is held above moral ideologies, there is a problem. When human life is assigned a value and weighed against other alternatives, there is a problem. The state speaks of Justice, but this word is only a reflection of the confusion, anger, and hatred that has fermented within this country, indeed within the very foundations of human society itself.
Truly there is no purpose to the Death Penalty other than vengeance, yet it seems that our society has sunk to such a level that even vengeance is acceptable to most. The state, though, mimics every abhorrent quality of a punishable act of murder; a murder committed in anger is punished with an execution committed in anger; a cold, calculated, murder committed with pleasure is met with the same form of execution. The end result is the same and the feeling with which it is carried out is the same. There are, even, many qualities of the death penalty that surpass the moral obscenity of a criminal act of murder. Where then is the difference between a murder and an execution? How can one form of murder be right and another be wrong? How can the same deed, carried out by two different people, be one time evil and another time divine? How, furthermore, can a morally adverse action promote the morality, let alone the continued existence, of human society? If we feel bad about explaining the Death Penalty to our children then we should not have to explain it at all.
The Death Penalty is a simple-minded solution to a complex problem. It seems people like to complain about problems, but do not want to go to the trouble of finding reasonable solutions. They opt for the quick-fix; something that seems easy and simple to carry out but, in actuality, does nothing to address the problem. As many great thinkers have said, our laws are too often directed at the results of social problems rather than the problems themselves. People don’t care anymore. They don’t care about their religion, their government, their laws, or each other. It’s just too much trouble. Sadly, thought, the one true religion, is the only one which lacks a multitude of fanatical zealots. It is, indeed, far easier to simply throw a human being away like so much garbage than to delve into the depths of their mind and determine the causes of their actions. We now live in the age of the disposable human being. One might be tempted to jokingly ask “What will they think of next?” The problem, though, is that no one has been thinking at all.
Reciprocal Punishment is not the solution. This antiquated and barbaric eye-for-an-eye form of Justice is a primitive, savage, and ultimately mindless way of addressing the problem of crime. If law is supposed to be objective and independent from religion why is it based on these ancient and barbaric doctrines of a God that is more evil than divine? How can we defeat violence with violence? How can we defeat murder with murder? How can we defeat anger with anger? In doing so we merely assist the propogation of circumstances, the existence of which we claim we are trying to end, in our own actions and in our own minds. Have these foolish practices solved any of our problems? What of peace? Why, still, must people die? Perhaps if we go to the trouble of finding out we can end the problem, instead of having to delude ourselves into believing that murder will save the world. The road to peace is not paved with blood. Mankind must realize that peace bought with murder is not peace at all; it is merely the silence of death.
