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A man has gone to meet his maker.
Nov. 10th, 2009 09:28 pmJohn Allen Muhammad was executed tonight for the deaths of 10 people, bringing once again to the front of the nation's consciousness (at least until tomorrow's headlines appear) the debate over capital punishment.
Truly, there are no easy answers.
This issue has been argued back and forth in courts of law and the court of public opinion since the dawn of man. The pendulum has swung both ways during my own lifetime, and there is not a glimmering of consensus on the horizon.
I have no answers here, but since this is where I record my thoughts I felt I ought to put some down before life once again crowds the issue back to the lumber room.
Holy Writ is no help. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both replete with instances of retribution and forgiveness. A hundred fools and a hundred scholars together will come up with two hundred interpretations between them. Even modern revelation sheds no significant light on the question.
Secular sociology is no help. Conflicting studies discuss deterrence and lack of deterrence, the cost to society of execution vs. incarceration, rehabilitation vs. warehousing and the prices and benefits to victims and their families. There are debates about how best to honor and respect human life - by extinguishing one which has violated the sanctity thereof, or to punish by lifetime incarceration.
The Constitution and our justice system are no help, because the 6th and 8th amendments have been eviscerated by attorneys paid by the fraction of an hour, and because court dockets are choked beyond all hope of recovery.
Societies need rules, and rules must be enforced, if the rights of people are to be protected. Yet mercy cannot rob justice, nor justice mercy - taking both concepts to their illogical conclusions by reductio ad absurdem, either all malefactors would be forgiven and allowed to go free, or litterbugs and jaywalkers would be summarily burnt at the stake
There is no help for the widow's son. All I have left to go on is my heart, which tells me to look to people whom I admire for guidance on how to find peace for myself.
I look to Christ, who begged forgiveness for those who were in the very act of murdering him.
I look to Gandhi, who taught a tormented Hindu who had killed a Muslim boy to atone by taking another orphaned child and raise him... as a Muslim.
I look to Azim Khamisa, who saw in the murder of his 19-year-old son at the hands of a young gang member not one lost life but two, and who, together with the guardian of the shooter, went on to create a foundation that teaches grade school children how to avoid child-on-child violence. Two more unmatched people you could never hope to find - a Sufi Muslim investment banker, and a black, born-again ex-Green Beret, who from the ashes of tragedy have raised a phoenix of hope and blessing for the lives of thousands of young people.
In a very real sense, capital punishment is about revenge, and revenge is always a lose-lose proposition. My suspicion is that even for families of victims who ardently hope for the ultimate penalty, such penalty brings no true closure, and no true peace.
I feel better about working to improve our justice system so that punishment is swift and sure, yet leaving the ultimate destiny of a human life in the hands of Him who gave it. I hope that I would have the moral conviction to feel the same way if the question ever - God forbid - became an intimately personal one in my life. Only in this way can I hope to find peace for myself.
Truly, there are no easy answers.
This issue has been argued back and forth in courts of law and the court of public opinion since the dawn of man. The pendulum has swung both ways during my own lifetime, and there is not a glimmering of consensus on the horizon.
I have no answers here, but since this is where I record my thoughts I felt I ought to put some down before life once again crowds the issue back to the lumber room.
Holy Writ is no help. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both replete with instances of retribution and forgiveness. A hundred fools and a hundred scholars together will come up with two hundred interpretations between them. Even modern revelation sheds no significant light on the question.
Secular sociology is no help. Conflicting studies discuss deterrence and lack of deterrence, the cost to society of execution vs. incarceration, rehabilitation vs. warehousing and the prices and benefits to victims and their families. There are debates about how best to honor and respect human life - by extinguishing one which has violated the sanctity thereof, or to punish by lifetime incarceration.
The Constitution and our justice system are no help, because the 6th and 8th amendments have been eviscerated by attorneys paid by the fraction of an hour, and because court dockets are choked beyond all hope of recovery.
Societies need rules, and rules must be enforced, if the rights of people are to be protected. Yet mercy cannot rob justice, nor justice mercy - taking both concepts to their illogical conclusions by reductio ad absurdem, either all malefactors would be forgiven and allowed to go free, or litterbugs and jaywalkers would be summarily burnt at the stake
There is no help for the widow's son. All I have left to go on is my heart, which tells me to look to people whom I admire for guidance on how to find peace for myself.
I look to Christ, who begged forgiveness for those who were in the very act of murdering him.
I look to Gandhi, who taught a tormented Hindu who had killed a Muslim boy to atone by taking another orphaned child and raise him... as a Muslim.
I look to Azim Khamisa, who saw in the murder of his 19-year-old son at the hands of a young gang member not one lost life but two, and who, together with the guardian of the shooter, went on to create a foundation that teaches grade school children how to avoid child-on-child violence. Two more unmatched people you could never hope to find - a Sufi Muslim investment banker, and a black, born-again ex-Green Beret, who from the ashes of tragedy have raised a phoenix of hope and blessing for the lives of thousands of young people.
In a very real sense, capital punishment is about revenge, and revenge is always a lose-lose proposition. My suspicion is that even for families of victims who ardently hope for the ultimate penalty, such penalty brings no true closure, and no true peace.
I feel better about working to improve our justice system so that punishment is swift and sure, yet leaving the ultimate destiny of a human life in the hands of Him who gave it. I hope that I would have the moral conviction to feel the same way if the question ever - God forbid - became an intimately personal one in my life. Only in this way can I hope to find peace for myself.
