The Death Penalty :
There has been a
lot of give and take as of late regarding the death penalty so far as its
legitimacy and effectiveness are concerned. At the heart of that issue is the
question : What is the function of the judicial system ? Namely, whether its
function is rehabilitation, retribution, or a mixture of the two. Deciding on
the right answer to the previous question is the key to arriving at a
satisfactory resolution to the age old debate regarding the death penalty. For my money, the function of
the legal system ought to be rehabilitative rather than retributive.
Constitutionally,
the prime concern of the government and all of its branches is the well-being
of its citizens. That , I believe, includes the medical treatment and re-integration
of past offenders into society so that they could contribute their share to its
progress and enrichment.
In an age of enlightened thinking and breath-taking
technological and medical progress, we must, as intellectually advanced agents,
discard the original purpose of prisons, which was barbaric and mindless
physical and psychological torture and adopt as a substitute for it the humane
and productive should-be end of prisons which is education and healing that
would eventually lead to a successful re-assimilation into mainstream society.
It
does not help either that punishing major crimes through state-sanctioned
killing is creating more suicide bomber style offenders. Whoever is tired of
life and yearns after fame gets their chance at that through provoking the
state into gullibly granting their heart’s desire! I naively thought that we
had done away with such stone age, old testament morality. The edict, “an eye for an eye” never worked in the past
and does not have the slightest chance of generating a morally advanced and
humanitarian society.
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