I don’t think it would take any level of psychic abilities to guess what the Buddhist view is on the death penalty.
I am patently against the death penalty religiously. However, I do understand why it exists. I appreciate the role that it has held in our society bringing order the wreckage that follows the most heinous of crimes. When an individual or individuals murder, rape, or torture it strikes a chord in our collective psyche as both terrifying and inexcusable.
We instinctually crave retribution. We want to reject/punish those responsible so that they will not harm the rest of us, so that others with similar predilections are deterred, or so that those left behind can feel closure. There was once (some may argue there is still is) a need for a socially sanctioned execution of those that commit these crimes to protect the innocent. In the not so distant past, these crimes were followed by hysteria, lynch mobs, and vigilante justice. Too often those victimized by these hastily organized revenge squads were in fact innocent of the crimes for which their lives were taken. Thus emerged a system in which the justice system sanctions the death penalty with the assurance that measures would be taken so that innocent people would never suffer from the wrath of mass hysteria. This system was accepted because it seemed to satisfy the people’s desire for retribution whilst still protecting the lives of the innocent.
I would argue, however, that assuaging the collective ire of the masses should no longer be the goal of our society. We should instead focus on the advancement of our society. Are we to forever remain as a people who value the lives of some less than others? Remain thieves of the one commodity that we cannot truly understand, life. That is what the death penalty is, it is collectively deciding to rob someone of their life. Some may argue that they “deserve what’s coming to them” that we are somehow “evening the score. But I beg to differ, this world is full of suffering and death it should be our endeavor to lessen the load not increase it, regardless of the circumstance.
We should try to raise the standards of our society, no matter how difficult, because that struggle will make us stronger. When we all go to meet our maker, or simply when we look back at our lives from the perspective of age, which decision will you think you will be more proud of? The decision to act on instinct and seek revenge in order to punish the wicked, or the decision to transcend simple vengeance and perpetuate compassion as well as fortitude.
Why is it so important that we don’t add to the number of deaths in the world? Perhaps there are just some who do not deserve to live, namely psychopaths and sociopaths.
Who is to decide who does “not deserve to live”? It is important from a Buddhist perspective that we don’t add to death and suffering because Buddhists seek to free themselves from suffer, from the cycle of life and death, from fear and from the fear that incites people to take each others lives. Perhaps there are people who do not deserve to live, but perhaps it is not our duty to take their lives from them.
But what if it is our duty? One person does not decide, it is society.
Is it our duty? Are citizens asked to take the lives those who kill? I have not been charged specifically with that task, and I have not asked anyone to take that task up for me.
Indeed we are fortunate enough to live in a place where society is allowed to collectively weigh in and vote on our laws, and another part of society (Connecticut) has voted to abolish the death penalty. This panel question is asking if I support it or not, I do not. It would appear that large segments of society (such as the 17 states that have already abolished it) are also somewhat in line with my opinions on this matter. If our panel was to be taken as a fair cross section (which it likely is not) one would dare say that a majority of the members of society are also against the death penalty, meaning that places in which it is still in effect are in fact operating outside of the moral prerogative set forth by society as a whole.
fair enough