Despite my general ambivalence about the merit of death penalties, there is one context in which I find it not only defensible but advisable. Even compelling.
The arguments in favor of the death penalty for particularly heinous crimes are credible.
Firstly, the death penalty sends an important message to society at large about the gravity of capital crimes. And the message is sent, too, to would-be evildoers contemplating similar crimes, for many of whom the prospect of execution can serve as a compelling deterrent.
Secondly, ridding the world of dangerous criminals obviates any possibility of their escaping from prison and resuming their criminal careers. And, thirdly, capital punishment does away with the need for society to shoulder responsibility for a criminal’s room, board and medical care for the rest of his or her days.
Yet, on the other hand, taking a human life is an inherently terrible thing. And there have been cases where people have been put to death, only for later developments or discoveries to prove that they had not in fact been guilty of the crimes for which they were executed. What’s more, there have been horrible people who have radically changed in prison; even some inmates serving life sentences with no possibility of parole have become positive influences on other prisoners.
Some 50 countries, including the US, retain capital punishment. It exists as an option for certain US federal crimes and in 27 states. At the end of his term, President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 prisoners on federal death row to life imprisonment. And, shortly after his inauguration, President Trump issued an executive order calling on the US Attorney General to seek the death penalty in future cases of “crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
Israel allows capital punishment, but only for crimes against humanity and treason. It hanged Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann in 1962, but has executed no one else since.
It’s reasonable to argue that Israel should consider legislating a third category of capital punishment: any terrorist act that takes the life of an Israeli citizen.
That suggestion reflects not an iota of bloodlust or callousness. It is a simple, sensible result of dispassionately observing current events.
In 2004, a prisoner who was serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli jail, a man who had proudly admitted to killing six people, one with his bare hands, was experiencing concentration problems and neck pain. A prison dentist who examined him suspected a brain tumor, a diagnosis that turned out to be accurate. An Israeli surgeon operated on him and excised the growth. Untreated, it would have killed the prisoner.
The patient was released from prison in 2011 as part of a deal that freed 1,027 Arabs in exchange for the return of one Israeli soldier.
The well-cared-for prisoner was Yahya Sinwar, the (now thankfully departed) coordinator of the October 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis.
In recent days, in order to secure the release of Israelis who were kidnapped during the Sinwar-directed massacre, hundreds of prisoners in Israeli jails have been released, many of whom had been serving life sentences for murder. Hundreds of other prisoners are scheduled for release in future stages of the current Israel-Hamas deal. There is no reason to imagine that the worst among them are reformed.
Had Israel long ago instituted capital punishment for terrorism murders, there would have been no Sinwar to release in 2011, and no other recidivist acts of slaughter by other released terrorists. Might it be time to rectify that lack of foresight?
The possibility of jihadi degenerates repenting of their murderous designs is vanishingly small, if it exists at all. And, while capital punishment for terror-inspired murder won’t likely deter future Islamists from seeking to earn their fools’ paradises by shedding Jewish blood, it will at least rid the world of some present ones.
So what remains is a simple pair of options: Israel can either act to decisively prevent killers of its citizens from being able to kill again. Or it can continue to care for them, thereby rendering them dangerous trading chips for yet-to-come deals to release kidnapped innocents.
Doesn’t seem like much of a toss-up to me.
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