We are starting to hear more about bringing back the death penalty, in political speeches and newspaper articles. This is a fascinating way of thinking, so let’s view it more openly and from a few different angles.
Let us imagine we have the death penalty or think back to when it was in place before.
A person has been killed and the courts have found another person guilty, so they must be put to death. Their hanging is arranged and scheduled. The murderer must be punished, now we need a hangman to carry out the killing in the name of the state. It is his job to hang the guilty, it is his occupation.
We live in a progressive society. We believe we have moral values. Most of us have been born into a religion, even if we don’t practice we can rhyme off a few of the Ten Commandments and follow them more or less.
He is going to take a life, another life for the first life that has been taken.
We can agree that the killer was wrong, but the hangman is going to do exactly the same thing, while getting paid for the killing. Who has deemed what he is doing less of a murder? Who has the moral or ethical compass now? Who is to be found guilty here? Is it the hangman’s sin? He did pull the rope afterall.
Then what of the state, does the sin lie with them? The governments we elect, knowing their view on the death penalty? They made the decision to implement this punishment, does the guilt lie there?
Or are we guilty? Who elected the government of the day, that was us. We knew their policies going into the voting booth and we put an X beside that party. We knew it all, we went along with it.
Who is prepared to have this blood on their hands?
Do we choose not to think about such things? This really doesn’t make for plesant conversation and after all we are civilised people. Or are we?