Crime and Punishment
This November the voters of Wisconsin will consider an advisory referendum on re-instating capital punishment in this state (abolished in 1853) in cases where DNA-evidence is used. Is this a good way to reduce the shootings and killings in Milwaukee?
Q: What does the Torah say about capital punishment?
" Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man will his blood be shed, because in the image of G-d He created man" (Gen. 9:6). This is a clear endorsement of the death penalty for murder. Since the verse occurs long before the birth of Abraham, it apparently applies to all peoples of the earth, but is not counted as one of the 613 commandments in the Torah. (1)
However, Deut. 17:6 requires that the testimony of two witnesses is required for the death penalty. The Talmud further demands that the witnesses must first warn the perpetrator and must hear him acknowledge the warning. These requirement were so onerous that the Talmud considered a Beth Din (court) that executed even one person in 70 years to be a "bloody court." The Talmud recounts that, despite these strictures, an innocent man was executed on the basis of perjured testimony (2).
Q. What does the US Constitution say about the death penalty?
The Fifth Amendment begins "No person shall be held to answer for a capital crime.....unless on....indictment of a grand jury." This implies that the federal government has the right to impose capital punishment, as long as certain rules are followed.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusal punishments." On the basis of this phrase, the US Supreme Court ruled in the 1972 case of Furman vs Georgia that the death penalty itself was "cruel and unusal" because it was not applied fairly and uniformly, and issued a number of guidelines for reform of state laws. Many states amended their death-penalty statutes to conform to the Furman guidelines, and in 1976 the Court upheld the revised laws. Executions resumed in January, 1977, with the shooting of double-murderer Gary Gilmore by the State of Utah. (Unlike most condemned convicts, Gilmore plead guilty and demanded the sentence be carried out.)
Q. Does the death penalty deter murder more than life imprisonment?
Numerous comparisons between murder-rates of states with and without capital punishment, as well as between the periods in which it was and was not in effect in the same state, show no deterrent effect.
Perhaps this is because the death penalty is so rarely carried out-----only about 2% of condemned prisoners are executed each year (3). However, any modifications in the laws that would significantly reduce the appeal-rights of death-row inmates would inevitably increase the chances of executing innocent people. A law school project to examine the cases of men on death-row in Illinois produced so many false convictions that Governor George Ryan suspended all executions for the balance of his term.
In some cases, the death penalty might even increase the incentive to kill; for example, a criminal facing execution upon capture and conviction might be more likely to kill witnesses or policemen than he would if facing only imprisonment.
Q. Can capital punishment be made both more fair and more effective?
No, because measures that would it would make the penalty more fair (providing better legal representation to the poor, demanding higher standards of proof in capital cases, etc.) would reduce the number of executions, thereby undercutting the deterrent effect.
Q. Do travelling serial killers avoid death-penalty states?
Surprisingly---No! For example, Seattle law-student Ted Bundy, who could have easily checked out death-penalty laws, killed young women in Texas and Florida, the two states with the highest execution rates in the country. He was electrocuted by the State of Florida in 1994.
Q. Does the death penalty save the state money?
The average cost of keeping a person in prison is about $25,000. Assume that a man age 25 is convicted and sentenced to death. Allowing ten years to exhaust appeals, the total cost of his incarceration would be about $250,000. Assuming a normal male lifespan of 75 years, a life-sentence would cost the state $1.25 million.
Moreover, the cost of those serving life-sentences would probably exceed the average because of higher medical expenses in the last years of the prisoner's life.
On the other hand, the legal costs of appeals in capital cases would certainly offset some of this saving.
Q. Does Wisconsin need the death penalty?
Without killing anyone, Wisconsin has experienced no more violence than other states for over 150 years, and has no need for a death penalty now.
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(1) "Between the Lines of the Bible" by Herbert Goldstein.
(2) The son of renowned Torah scholar Shimon ben Shotach was framed for a capital offense. After he was convicted and sentenced to stoning, both witnesses admitted they had lied. Since there is no provision in Torah law for recantation of testimony, the sentence had to be carried out.
(3) Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, page 124.
Q: What does the Torah say about capital punishment?
" Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man will his blood be shed, because in the image of G-d He created man" (Gen. 9:6). This is a clear endorsement of the death penalty for murder. Since the verse occurs long before the birth of Abraham, it apparently applies to all peoples of the earth, but is not counted as one of the 613 commandments in the Torah. (1)
However, Deut. 17:6 requires that the testimony of two witnesses is required for the death penalty. The Talmud further demands that the witnesses must first warn the perpetrator and must hear him acknowledge the warning. These requirement were so onerous that the Talmud considered a Beth Din (court) that executed even one person in 70 years to be a "bloody court." The Talmud recounts that, despite these strictures, an innocent man was executed on the basis of perjured testimony (2).
Q. What does the US Constitution say about the death penalty?
The Fifth Amendment begins "No person shall be held to answer for a capital crime.....unless on....indictment of a grand jury." This implies that the federal government has the right to impose capital punishment, as long as certain rules are followed.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusal punishments." On the basis of this phrase, the US Supreme Court ruled in the 1972 case of Furman vs Georgia that the death penalty itself was "cruel and unusal" because it was not applied fairly and uniformly, and issued a number of guidelines for reform of state laws. Many states amended their death-penalty statutes to conform to the Furman guidelines, and in 1976 the Court upheld the revised laws. Executions resumed in January, 1977, with the shooting of double-murderer Gary Gilmore by the State of Utah. (Unlike most condemned convicts, Gilmore plead guilty and demanded the sentence be carried out.)
Q. Does the death penalty deter murder more than life imprisonment?
Numerous comparisons between murder-rates of states with and without capital punishment, as well as between the periods in which it was and was not in effect in the same state, show no deterrent effect.
Perhaps this is because the death penalty is so rarely carried out-----only about 2% of condemned prisoners are executed each year (3). However, any modifications in the laws that would significantly reduce the appeal-rights of death-row inmates would inevitably increase the chances of executing innocent people. A law school project to examine the cases of men on death-row in Illinois produced so many false convictions that Governor George Ryan suspended all executions for the balance of his term.
In some cases, the death penalty might even increase the incentive to kill; for example, a criminal facing execution upon capture and conviction might be more likely to kill witnesses or policemen than he would if facing only imprisonment.
Q. Can capital punishment be made both more fair and more effective?
No, because measures that would it would make the penalty more fair (providing better legal representation to the poor, demanding higher standards of proof in capital cases, etc.) would reduce the number of executions, thereby undercutting the deterrent effect.
Q. Do travelling serial killers avoid death-penalty states?
Surprisingly---No! For example, Seattle law-student Ted Bundy, who could have easily checked out death-penalty laws, killed young women in Texas and Florida, the two states with the highest execution rates in the country. He was electrocuted by the State of Florida in 1994.
Q. Does the death penalty save the state money?
The average cost of keeping a person in prison is about $25,000. Assume that a man age 25 is convicted and sentenced to death. Allowing ten years to exhaust appeals, the total cost of his incarceration would be about $250,000. Assuming a normal male lifespan of 75 years, a life-sentence would cost the state $1.25 million.
Moreover, the cost of those serving life-sentences would probably exceed the average because of higher medical expenses in the last years of the prisoner's life.
On the other hand, the legal costs of appeals in capital cases would certainly offset some of this saving.
Q. Does Wisconsin need the death penalty?
Without killing anyone, Wisconsin has experienced no more violence than other states for over 150 years, and has no need for a death penalty now.
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(1) "Between the Lines of the Bible" by Herbert Goldstein.
(2) The son of renowned Torah scholar Shimon ben Shotach was framed for a capital offense. After he was convicted and sentenced to stoning, both witnesses admitted they had lied. Since there is no provision in Torah law for recantation of testimony, the sentence had to be carried out.
(3) Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, page 124.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 8:31 AM
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