An excellent punishment
Capital!
One of the dictionary definitions for capital is “excellent.” “He’s a capital fellow,” we might say, particularly if we’re British. I submit that “excellent” is a proper understanding of capital when it’s used with punishment. Capital punishment, requiring a murderer to forfeit his own life, is excellent punishment.
I’ve been watching Daily Wire’s compelling documentary “Convicting a Murderer” about the 2007 Wisconsin rape and murder case featured in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer.” Hearing and seeing the horrible, gruesome, revolting details of the case which were brought out in court but omitted from the Netflix documentary has me wishing the murderer rapist would get the excellent punishment he deserves. Instead, Wisconsin taxpayers are paying for food, shelter, and healthcare to keep him alive.
But he deserves to be dead. Because, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” – God
Opponents of the death penalty will cite instances of wrongful conviction as reason enough to prohibit such a drastic, life-ending judgment. But here’s why I believe that, even though some innocent people may be killed by the state, capital punishment should be the sentence given to every convicted murderer.
- Exponentially more innocent people are killed every year by evil men undeterred by a justice system that is insufficiently retributive and a culture that coddles criminals and hamstrings the police. The prospect of imprisonment, where all your physical needs are cared for on the taxpayer’s dime, is just not horrifying and drastic enough to stop a killer from following through with his murderous intent. Neither is an underfunded and demoralized police force enough of a threat to restrain him.
- The innocent ones sentenced to death are surely very few in number. But even they will receive justice in the end. In facing their impending execution they have the ultimate motivation to seek God, if they don’t already know him. If they repent and turn to him in trusting faith, they will be ushered into his presence at death, and into a much preferable existence than the one they left. If they choose to reject God’s call to “Turn to me and be saved” they will receive just punishment for whatever sins they have committed.
- A society that values life enough to decree death for those who unjustly kill actually promotes a culture of life. A culture of life shapes attitudes and attitudes shape actions. To be consistent, though, the lives of the unborn must be equally valued.
Of course, for the threat of death to deter a would-be murderer, capital punishment must be swiftly carried out. When convicted murderers are allowed multiple appeals prolonging their lives for decades, death row might as well be life row. See number 1.
Opposing the death penalty doesn’t add to or affirm the value of human life. It devalues it. Justice, and a high value of human life, demands an excellent punishment . . . life for life.
