Why Continue Capital Punishment - Assignment Example

The Sixth Commandment in original Hebrew reads not ‘thou shall not kill’ but ‘thou shall not murder.’  The Torah, Judaism’s chief source of ethical reference, is definite in its support of the death penalty.  The only law repeated in all five books of the Torah is the condemnation of murderers to death (Prager, 2001).

Sending a murderer away to enjoy three meals a day and a roof over their head for life simply doesn’t fully address the issue.  Death penalty laws have been known to change and probably will again.  In addition, people tend to forget the past, and parole boards constantly evolve their personnel so there is always a chance, no matter how small, that the murderer will strike again if he is allowed to remain alive. (Lowe, 2006). Although the U.S. court system is at least among the most equitable in the world, no system of justice can expect to provide perfect results 100 percent of the time.  Mistakes within the system, though few and unavoidable, should not serve as justification to eradicate the death penalty.  (Stewart, 2006).

If someone steals a car and was allowed to keep and drive it around town without fear of retribution, no one would think that fair.  It is neither fair to allow anyone that steals a life to keep their own.  Allowing people who have been convicted of acting as self-appointed executioners to keep their own life devalues human life on the whole.