An eye for an eye, a life for a life...?

Question

This is the statement sometimes used by those who suport capital punishment, to punish murderers.

Do you personally agree with this statement? Why/why not?

I personally don't agree with capital punishment (mistakes can still be made in regards to who truly commited the crime) but the reason behind the saying is quite logical... you get what you give, a taste of your own medicine.

Answer 1

well as gandhi said an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
so no.
i don't think we have the right to chose whether a person is to live or die, no matter how "bad" they may seem, because things are never black and white, and you can never judge.
yes even for the rapists and pedophiles, it makes me sick to my stomach but in the end they are human beings- with eyes to see, fingers to touch, and a heart to feel. so i don't know... psychopaths maybe don't feel remorse but i can't make myself believe that they are completely numb because that's as good as dead. or enlightened.

and just think- if you loved them what would you do then?
because believe it or not, these killers, these rapists, they are actually someone's son or daughter. that complicates it even further, because at the end of the day saddam wasn't a "bad" political leader, he was some girl's father.

hm... however at the same time, you can't just let them off the hook...
i don't know. i don't support capital punishment, but i don't support murder either. and murdering the murderer is commiting an act of murder which is what the murderer was murdered for in the first place. whew! tongue twister :P
so it's a sticky situation. caught between a rock and a hard place.
if you figure it out let me know! :)

Answer 2

I actually had an interesting conversation recently with a Biblical scholar, who told me that the "eye for an eye" passage was actually trying to MODERATE punishments, because prior to that the authorities were being too severe (i.e., killing someone just for stealing). The "eye for eye" policy was to ensure that the punishment was not too harsh for the crime. So it was really moving AWAY from the brutality of people in authority who had gone mad with power.

But to address your question, I am against capital punishment. I can see the appeal of wanting to kill someone who committed horrible crimes, and indeed I used to be pro-death penalty, but I have changed my stance over the years, for several reasons:

1. By far the biggest reason is this: Sometimes our legal system gets it wrong. Look at all the criminals who are being released after years of imprisonment because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. No matter how rare it is, our government should not risk executing one single innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most reasonable people. If you need more, read on:

2. Because of the extra expense of prosecuting a DP case and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life.

3. The deterrent effect is questionable at best. Violent crime rates are actually higher in death penalty states. This may seem counterintuitive, but think about the mixed message it sends: we’re trying to take a stand against murder…by killing people. The government becomes the bad parent who says, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst of our criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age.

5. The U.S. government is supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible. For example, Matthew 5:38-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. 1 Peter 3:9 argues AGAINST “eye for an eye”-type justice. Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to). In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Answer 3

This system of justice is God's own -- it is why Christ had to die so as to give a perfect life for the perfect life Adam lost and which opened the way to death.

Thus divine justice having been satisfied, Christ's sacrifice opens the way for all that exercise faith to have everlasting life.

The eye-for-an-eye justice is not individuals going about being vigilantes and avenging themselves piecemeal!

Even with the ransom sacrifice this justice system is still enforced by God but mercifully because there is no way a Christian can 100% payback for his sins. Still that is one primary reason why Christians must suffer and have the privilege to suffer for Christ.

Answer 4

We often feel if we can justify our actions enough, we are right.

Even the killing another human being can be justified as fair, if it is offered as a punishment.

But little do we know that all our actions incur a Karmic consequence, no matter how well we might try to justify or guise them, we all have to take responsibility of their consequences upon us.

For all we know, what we presently incurring might just be a consequence of our past actions, and choices, so the point of departure from this constant cycle is to surrender all our actions to the divine, and then be willing to take all the consequences of our choices willingly and boldly.

An empowered choice is the one that is made from the perspective of being made, by one soul to another, in consideration of freedom and continuing our not bondage to the Karmic cycle.

Answer 5

The only reason for capital punishment is to stop them from killing almost everyone else in sight. But i don't agree with it, i agree with reasonability, if they feel like it's like a huge mistake and they're willing to repent, then u should let them live. (look up tookie williams for what im talking about)

Answer 6

I agree with Jen.

People like Bernardo should be tortured & killed (if you don't know he was a serial rapist/murderer here in Canada. The sicko even videotaped himself with the girls. How much more evidence could you need.)

To me, deliberate cruelty is unforgiveable & must be punished. Anyone who hurts or kills an innocent person should be hurt/killed.

Sometimes the law lets us down. Sometimes I think we need a good old-fashioned revenge superhero or a passionate vigilante to clean up...

Answer 7

Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Vengeance is no better than the act it seeks to punish.

Reducing society to the mentality of a murderer is not likely to be a solution to anything.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 8

yes, he who kills deliberately, must be killed, it's only justice..
and that's a way of preventing people from doing this before they do it, if someone knows in advance that the punishment for killing another is death, they wouldn't do it..

Answer 9

Violence, even when perpetrated by the state, still begets violence. Vengeance does not bring back the victim of murder. It debases society.

Answer 10

Turn up the heat and things get hotter-- respond to violence with more violence and the world simply becomes more violent.