New York – Jewish radio talk show host and author Dennis Prager, whom I admire greatly, has been outspoken about his belief that Judeo-Christian values support the death penalty for murderers. He is fond of pointing to the fact that capital punishment for murder is the only law that exists in all five books of the Torah. Yet interestingly, the organized Jewish community is either opposed to capital punishment or takes no position:
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
• The Reform and Conservative movements in North America have both taken strong stands against the death penalty.
• Nine years ago, the Orthodox Union called for a nationwide moratorium on the death penalty.
• The right-of-center Orthodox Agudath Israel of America takes no official position on capital punishment, despite its conservative stances on many other public issues.
I asked the latter organization’s director of public affairs, Rabbi Avi Shafran, why he thought so many Jewish organizations do not support the death penalty, and he told me: “Jews have all too often found themselves on the wrong side of the administration of capital punishment – often for the sole ‘crime’ of being Jewish. So there’s a natural and understandable reluctance among many Jews to push society to mete out the ultimate punishment to anyone. That many a convicted criminal in the United States has later been exonerated by evidence or testimony only adds to the reluctance.”
The Torah calls for the death penalty not only for murder but for a variety of other offenses, including violating Shabbat, witchcraft and a wide range of sexual sins. But we know from the Talmud and other rabbinic texts that the Jewish death penalty was applied very rarely, with high burdens for proof of guilt – far higher than those imposed by the 36 American states that have capital punishment. For example, two individuals had to witness the capital crime, and there had to be a “kosher” warning before the act took place. The Talmud says that any court that imposed death on a convict once in seven years – or even once in 70 – was considered a “bloody” court.
Given the private nature of many of the transgressions that call for the death penalty, it is not surprising that the high burden of proof was rarely if ever reached.
Yet opponents of Torah law like to point to the existence of capital punishment in Torah law as evidence that the God-given system of human justice is somehow barbarous and bloodthirsty. It’s just not true. Conversely, some law-and-order types cite the phrases “an eye for an eye” and “a life for a life” out of context, and use the biblical system of retribution to support civic measures of punishment that go far beyond the way capital punishment ever worked under Torah law.
Israel only has the death penalty for genocide and crimes against humanity, and there has been just one civil execution in the country’s history – of Final Solution architect Adolf Eichmann. While I am certainly glad that the Earth’s air is no longer poisoned by Eichmann’s breath, I wonder if someone in his category should be killed while others who have caused grave suffering to the Jewish people get to live out their lives in prison. The deaths at Auschwitz were horrible, yes, but are the tears of the families of victims of bombings planned by Palestinian murderers any less bitter? Israel would do well to get rid of its two-tiered system of capital justice and swear off the death penalty altogether.
Finally, there is the issue of the humaneness of the death penalty. Under Jewish law, capital convicts would be given alcohol until they were intoxicated, so they would suffer less. In the American system, convicts are first given a paralytic, so if they do suffer under the consequent two lethal drugs, they cannot express their pain. And there is significant evidence that they do suffer.
This system works well for everyone but the convict – the executioners and the witnesses do not have to see anything messy, while the condemned may suffer greatly in silence. If we have to have a death penalty, a firing squad would be better, as it is in effect the opposite of lethal injection – the condemned suffers little, while the rest of us have to see exactly what we’ve done.
Somehow I like that better.
But ultimately, it seems to me that life in prison without parole is a better option than the death penalty – in Israel, North America and throughout the world.
Although the actual death penalty was rare, if one is guilty but didn’t meet the criterea for execution, they would be imprisoned, starved, then fed barley causing their stomach to explode and die.
I personaly feel that no person has the right to take a life. Life is something that G-D has given, and no person can duplicate that. How then can we go and take that life away. We can only take a life when G-D tells us to take a life. If someone kills, let them rot in jail for the rest of their life. It’s probably worse then death.
the problem is not the death penalty, but the effectiveness of the burden of proof.
In the Torah, the aibeshter said to have 2 eye witnesses with chakiros, bedikos and chakiros, with a beis din of 23 experts (not 12 off the street), with no circumstantial evidence.
These days, it’s a bit different
is the author of this article seriously suggesting that eichman shouldnt have been executed are you joking?
#5 : If life in prison is “probably worse than death” (a favorite argument of liberals), then why do convicted murderers on death row and their lawyers spend so much time, money and effort trying to get their sentences changed from death to life in prison? They apparently feel that life in even the worst prison is preferable to death.
it is a tragedy every time human life is lost. even if the execution is lawful, mandated and halachically permissible. above a halachically sanctioned murder is the greater jewish value of human life.
anyone who would like to hear a serious and practical thought discussion on the subject should listen to a lecture by rabbi dr. lawrence shiffman, who is an erliche yid with a huge mind and is a professor and scholar at NYU.
murder is murder. two wrong dont make a right. on the show “oz” which is about prison they describe a life sentence as: “not a life, simply an existence” that is more of a punishment than being simply put to death.
quick comment though: jews need to stop giving in to people who use the term “judeo-christian” values. no folks judaism was here first, we created those values and we actually held to them. Christianity’s values are polar opposite than jewish ones. if anything our values are closer to islams, that is why ave j and other jewish neighborhoods all have arabs living close by.
R. Aharon Soloveitchik was an ardent opponent of the death penalty. How can we, as Jews, support a death penalty that clearly is applied without the strict substantive and procedural protections that the halacha requires?
please note that we are dealing with bnei noach who’s hilchos beis din penalize far easier than a jewish one. also prison is severe enui hadin. the torah never uses it.
Rav Moshe Fienstein has a famous Teshuva in irras Moshe where he spells out clearly the Torah’s view of capital punishment in our ‘honest, rule of law’ society. He also speaks about it very clearly in Drash Moshe. He draws a line between when and how it should be enacted as law. Only in very, very limited cases should there even be a law allowing it.
if death is worse than prison why are so many people in prison trying to commit suicide
Chuchom Says: “Rav Moshe Fienstein has a famous Teshuva in igras Moshe where he spells out clearly the Torah’s view of capital punishment in our ‘honest, rule of law’ society. He also speaks about it very clearly in Drash Moshe. He draws a line between when and how it should be enacted as law. Only in very, very limited cases should there even be a law allowing it.”
Sorry “Chuchom,” but I personally asked Rav Moshe this question in his apartment on the lower East Side, when I was on my way to Albany to lobby for the death penalty.
Rav Moshe took out a Gemora Sanhedrin, and pointed to the passage where it is written that the king can execute anyone, without formal hearings, even children, in a time where there is an outbreak of murers in society.
So, in a very practical situation, where a lobbying effort in favor of New York State law was involved, Rav Moshe told me to go ahead and support the legalization of Capital Punishment.
The death penalty is fully in effect in our country. However, it is applied on a daily basis by criminals to innocent victims.
The death penalty applied by the government in a uniform and orderly way would prevent many of the random murders that are committed so wantonly in our country and others. Even if they make mistakes sometimes, there is more benefit to society in killing out the true offenders (such as Mumia) and thereby frightening the others and preventing most of the murders that occur.
The current bleeding heart anti death penalty approach is rachmonus on achzorim, mercy on cruel people which has lead to achzorus al rachmonim, cruelty to the innocent victims. Society is responsible to protect its citizens. The unrealistic and non human attitude that the system can never make mistakes which frees heinous murderers to walk the streets and allows punks to kill anyone who they dislike causes more wrongful deaths and is an evil approach.
the liberals strongly support the murder of a nine month baby in its mothers womb but are ardently opposed to the death penalty of sick, evil murderers. makes lots of sense!
The torah calls for the death penalty for a number of things. However, how Beis Din implements the death penalty is something else.
Lehavdil, a court of law can give the death penalty if the jury believes 1 witness over another. Is that sufficient enough to take away human life? The 5th and 14th amendments require due process before taking away life and liberty. Does the American court system satisfy that due process requirement when it comes to life? Yes, there are people that deserve it. However, in a uniform legal system, are we too bloodthirsty and have too low of a standard, even if it is called beyond a reasonable doubt?
The author prefers life in prison without parole. Does that really exist? They always seem to get out.
I do not know the answer. I do not think the author knows the answer either, despite his last comment.
to #29 …also the torah necitates a court of 23!!! judges to pass capital punisment and secular courts have imgine 1!! human being has the acho send a man to his death…monetary the torah requires 3 judges, ‘ein don echad ale ani’ and secular coutrs 1 judge can pass jusgmen on millions of $$$..so which laws make sense?
#30 should be directed to #28
Careful in equating our value system to the “enlightened” liberal mode of thought. Unless you are prepared to get into why the Torah proscribes the death penalty for adultery and chillul shabbos. This would ruffle quite a few intellectual feathers.
“In the American system, convicts are first given a paralytic, so if they do suffer under the consequent two lethal drugs, they cannot express their pain. And there is significant evidence that they do suffer. “
Actually, that’s not accurate. They are first given a very fast acting sedative that is highly effective. That is followed by a a barbiturate that both sedates them as well as causing them to stop breathing. Lastly, they get the paralytic that stops the heart.
There are allegations that in some “botched” executions the convict was not sedated properly. While that is possible, it is not common. *IF* they did not receive proper sedation, the last medication (potassium chloride) would be painful. However, to state that the paralytic is given first and finish with “significant evidence that they do suffer” is not true and is over-reaching.
What a shame frum people listen to extreme right wing talk hosts like Prager and limbaugh and believe what they say. Is this the derech of torah?- no saichel //
There is no deterent that will teach a man so thoroughly that we are guaranteed that he will not repeat the offense other than the death penalty. Therefor I endorse the death penalty on it’s deterent value.