Joe: I too am a lifelong opponent of capital punishment. Yet, how do respond to a rather thoughtful essay in today's (Sunday's) NY Times by Robert Blecker on the Parkland shooter, especially on his musings about retribution?
Thanks Fay. Actually, the centerpiece of my essay was a response t the retributivist argument. I sent a letter off to the Times in response to the letter. I doubt they will print it: Perhaps too long, and they published another letter of mine within the last several months. Nevertheless, here it is:
To the Editor:
Robert Blecker invokes the lex talionis, the law of retribution, to protest the sparing of execution for the murderer of 17 students and teachers in the Parkland rampage of 2018. There is no doubt that this was a horrendous crime that has brought grief, perhaps lifelong, to the families of those who were murdered. The killer deserves to be severely punished, but the death penalty has no place in a civilized society.
In an abstract sense we can maintain that those who willfully, and with premeditation, take another life deserve to die. But it is not a contradiction to conclude that we ought not to kill them. With the employment of the death penalty, the state enters into the moral universe of the most despised and appropriates as its own, and does so in the name of all of us. Strapping a human being to a gurney, rendering him helpless and depriving him of all agency raises the power of the state to infinity and diminishes the autonomy, and the hence of the humanity, of the condemned to abject nothingness. Despite being gussied up by the majesty of the court, and winnowed through judicial process, too often found to be faulty, the death penalty is undeniably an act of premeditated murder.
Robert Becker implies that the death penalty is required to satisfy the needs of surviving family members. It suggests the call of "closure," often invoked by politicians to demonstrate that they are "tough on crime." Closure has popular cache, but I believe is an elusive concept with rhetorical appeal that falls short of its promise. In 2007, those working to influence the New Jersey legislature to repeal our state's death penalty law, were able to locate more than 30 families who had lost loved ones to murder, yet opposed capital punishment. They did not want to compound one murder with a second. Their testimonies were pivotal in overturning capital punishment in our state. Time also changes things. Those aggrieved who now call for the execution of their loved one's killer, may find that it brings no lasting relief and will feel differently years ahead.
There are also several other compelling reasons to oppose capital punishment. Its employment is stubbornly racist. DNA evidence had proven how great the risk of executing the innocent. In a time of escalating violence, we don't need the state to add to our violent atmosphere and setting an example that premeditated killing is acceptable as long as the perpetrator has a "justified" reason. Capital punishment is a barbaric and atavistic institution, and we would be better off without it.
Joseph Chuman
94 Byrne Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
(201) 487-6635
I am a leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
I am also a former chair of Amnesty International's Committee Against the Death Penalty
and the former chair of the New Jersey Coalition Against the Death Penalty
I'm very glad there are so many, strong practical reasons for opposing the death penalty, especially its racist application and the possibility of executing an innocent person. This allows me to oppose it wholeheartedly as you do. If it were otherwise, then in extreme cases like Parkland I fear I'd be torn between Chuman and Kant.
I am very glad you are convinced, Ed. Here is another reason to oppose the death penalty: It can be argued that if the government has its own reasons for killing citizens, it gives implicit permission, and sets an example for, any disgruntled individual with a screw loose to invoke his own reasons for doing likewise. In other words, capital punishment has a brutalizing effect. And I would maintain that in these fractious and tense times, we need less violence rather than more, and we should not be looking to the government to legitimate and deploy it.
To me capital punishment is unethical. It is an eye for an eye revenge which is very medieval. We as humans evolved since then ...and in today's environment it should be abolished. We know bulling is act of cruelty to our fellow human beings. The schools and parents in our society should be more aware of this cruel treatment. Most of these young people who go on shooting spree are victims of bulling. We as parents and our schools are unable to teach our kids the horrible effects of bulling. We as a society out caste people with different set of family situation such as broken family ,drug addicted parents /guardians, mental illness etc etc.And if a child is born in such family..whose fault is that. Certainly not the child himself or herself. The child didn't chose the family. And a child born and raised in such family is shun in schools and other places. They become victims of bulling...and they want to end all that and they think killing spree is the revenge. What a tragedy we as society couldn't help the misfit unfortunate.And now the state thinks capital punishment is going to bring closure to those innocent people who lost their lives.
I don't have the answer.
I have grandchildren for them I worry and feel sad that we as a society failed both the innocent victims and their murderer . And being sad and worrying not going to solve this. As the problem goes much deeper in our society as we are unable to help the people who need help..we just out caste them..💔🙏
I agree, Alpana. The causes of violence and murder in our society are complex. Much has to do with family breakdown, with bullying, and a general culture of hyper individualism and violence, which in some ways is distinctly American. And, of course, the extraordinary number of guns and easy access to them.
To me capital punishment is unethical. It is an eye for an eye revenge which is very medieval. We as humans evolved since then ...and in today's environment it should be abolished. We know bulling is act of cruelty to our fellow human beings. The schools and parents in our society should be more aware of this cruel treatment. Most of these young people who go on shooting spree are victims of bulling. We as parents and our schools are unable to teach our kids the horrible effects of bulling. We as a society out caste people with different set of family situation such as broken family ,drug addicted parents /guardians, mental illness etc etc.And if a child is born in such family..whose fault is that. Certainly not the child himself or herself. The child didn't chose the family. And a child born and raised in such family is shun in schools and other places. They become victims of bulling...and they want to end all that and they think killing spree is the revenge. What a tragedy we as society couldn't help the misfit unfortunate.And now the state thinks capital punishment is going to bring closure to those innocent people who lost their lives.
I don't have the answer.
I have grandchildren for them I worry and feel sad that we as a society failed both the innocent victims and their murderer . And being sad and worrying not going to solve this. As the problem goes much deeper in our society as we are unable to help the people who need help..we just out caste them..💔🙏
To me capital punishment is unethical. It is an eye for an eye revenge which is very medieval. We as humans evolved since then ...and in today's environment it should be abolished. We know bulling is act of cruelty to our fellow human beings. The schools and parents in our society should be more aware of this cruel treatment. Most of these young people we go ontshooting spree are victims of bulling. We as parents and our schools are unable to teach our kids the horrible effct of bulling. We as a society out caste people with different set of family situation such as broken family ,drug addicted parents /guardians, mental illness etc etc.And if a child is born in such family..whose fault is that. Certainly not the child himself or herself. The child didn't chose the family. And a child born and raised in such family is shun in schools and other places. They become victims of bulling...and they want to end all that and they think killing spree is the revenge. What a tragedy we as society couldn't help the misfit misfortunate.And now the state thinks capital punishment is bring closure to those innocent people who lost their lives.
I don't have the answer.
I have grandchildren for them I worry and feel sad that we as a society failed both the innocent victims and their murderer . And being sad and worrying not going to solve this. As the problem goes much deeper in our society as we are unable to help the people who need help..we just out caste them..💔🙏
Joe, I am so happy you have written this, I was beginning to wonder if you were away. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I remember the 1972 action of the Supreme Court, I remember feeling relieved. Can we be safe by keeping convicted murderers under lock and key for life? Of course we can. I remember when the death penalty was re-established here in Oklahoma. A few years later another inmate was set for execution. The hype surrounding that execution, thanks in large part to our local media, guaranteed there were large crowds present for the event. The two camps were kept apart by the authorities and television cameras were there to record the two groups. The group opposed to the death penalty was about what one would have expected, somber, regretful, despondent. The other group was celebrating, laughing, drinking, partying. It was just like a minor league football team had just beat Alabama and the tailgate party was about to last all night. I truly hate capital punishment, not just for the taking by the state of someone's life, but also for how it diminishes the souls of people who might otherwise be good people.
Many thanks. Jean. There seems to be an increasing distaste for the death penalty. Texas remains the great exception. Through its progressive disuse, as noted, its abolition is not beyond question. I suspect that if we had a liberal, rather than a reactionary Supreme Court, it would conceivably, in time, be deemed a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Joe: I too am a lifelong opponent of capital punishment. Yet, how do respond to a rather thoughtful essay in today's (Sunday's) NY Times by Robert Blecker on the Parkland shooter, especially on his musings about retribution?
Thanks Fay. Actually, the centerpiece of my essay was a response t the retributivist argument. I sent a letter off to the Times in response to the letter. I doubt they will print it: Perhaps too long, and they published another letter of mine within the last several months. Nevertheless, here it is:
To the Editor:
Robert Blecker invokes the lex talionis, the law of retribution, to protest the sparing of execution for the murderer of 17 students and teachers in the Parkland rampage of 2018. There is no doubt that this was a horrendous crime that has brought grief, perhaps lifelong, to the families of those who were murdered. The killer deserves to be severely punished, but the death penalty has no place in a civilized society.
In an abstract sense we can maintain that those who willfully, and with premeditation, take another life deserve to die. But it is not a contradiction to conclude that we ought not to kill them. With the employment of the death penalty, the state enters into the moral universe of the most despised and appropriates as its own, and does so in the name of all of us. Strapping a human being to a gurney, rendering him helpless and depriving him of all agency raises the power of the state to infinity and diminishes the autonomy, and the hence of the humanity, of the condemned to abject nothingness. Despite being gussied up by the majesty of the court, and winnowed through judicial process, too often found to be faulty, the death penalty is undeniably an act of premeditated murder.
Robert Becker implies that the death penalty is required to satisfy the needs of surviving family members. It suggests the call of "closure," often invoked by politicians to demonstrate that they are "tough on crime." Closure has popular cache, but I believe is an elusive concept with rhetorical appeal that falls short of its promise. In 2007, those working to influence the New Jersey legislature to repeal our state's death penalty law, were able to locate more than 30 families who had lost loved ones to murder, yet opposed capital punishment. They did not want to compound one murder with a second. Their testimonies were pivotal in overturning capital punishment in our state. Time also changes things. Those aggrieved who now call for the execution of their loved one's killer, may find that it brings no lasting relief and will feel differently years ahead.
There are also several other compelling reasons to oppose capital punishment. Its employment is stubbornly racist. DNA evidence had proven how great the risk of executing the innocent. In a time of escalating violence, we don't need the state to add to our violent atmosphere and setting an example that premeditated killing is acceptable as long as the perpetrator has a "justified" reason. Capital punishment is a barbaric and atavistic institution, and we would be better off without it.
Joseph Chuman
94 Byrne Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
(201) 487-6635
I am a leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
I am also a former chair of Amnesty International's Committee Against the Death Penalty
and the former chair of the New Jersey Coalition Against the Death Penalty
I'm very glad there are so many, strong practical reasons for opposing the death penalty, especially its racist application and the possibility of executing an innocent person. This allows me to oppose it wholeheartedly as you do. If it were otherwise, then in extreme cases like Parkland I fear I'd be torn between Chuman and Kant.
I am very glad you are convinced, Ed. Here is another reason to oppose the death penalty: It can be argued that if the government has its own reasons for killing citizens, it gives implicit permission, and sets an example for, any disgruntled individual with a screw loose to invoke his own reasons for doing likewise. In other words, capital punishment has a brutalizing effect. And I would maintain that in these fractious and tense times, we need less violence rather than more, and we should not be looking to the government to legitimate and deploy it.
I hope so. Thanks for your response.
To me capital punishment is unethical. It is an eye for an eye revenge which is very medieval. We as humans evolved since then ...and in today's environment it should be abolished. We know bulling is act of cruelty to our fellow human beings. The schools and parents in our society should be more aware of this cruel treatment. Most of these young people who go on shooting spree are victims of bulling. We as parents and our schools are unable to teach our kids the horrible effects of bulling. We as a society out caste people with different set of family situation such as broken family ,drug addicted parents /guardians, mental illness etc etc.And if a child is born in such family..whose fault is that. Certainly not the child himself or herself. The child didn't chose the family. And a child born and raised in such family is shun in schools and other places. They become victims of bulling...and they want to end all that and they think killing spree is the revenge. What a tragedy we as society couldn't help the misfit unfortunate.And now the state thinks capital punishment is going to bring closure to those innocent people who lost their lives.
I don't have the answer.
I have grandchildren for them I worry and feel sad that we as a society failed both the innocent victims and their murderer . And being sad and worrying not going to solve this. As the problem goes much deeper in our society as we are unable to help the people who need help..we just out caste them..💔🙏
I agree, Alpana. The causes of violence and murder in our society are complex. Much has to do with family breakdown, with bullying, and a general culture of hyper individualism and violence, which in some ways is distinctly American. And, of course, the extraordinary number of guns and easy access to them.
Yes , easy access to guns is definitely a enabler. Thank Joe for your response.
Keep well 🙏
You are most welcome, Alpana.
To me capital punishment is unethical. It is an eye for an eye revenge which is very medieval. We as humans evolved since then ...and in today's environment it should be abolished. We know bulling is act of cruelty to our fellow human beings. The schools and parents in our society should be more aware of this cruel treatment. Most of these young people who go on shooting spree are victims of bulling. We as parents and our schools are unable to teach our kids the horrible effects of bulling. We as a society out caste people with different set of family situation such as broken family ,drug addicted parents /guardians, mental illness etc etc.And if a child is born in such family..whose fault is that. Certainly not the child himself or herself. The child didn't chose the family. And a child born and raised in such family is shun in schools and other places. They become victims of bulling...and they want to end all that and they think killing spree is the revenge. What a tragedy we as society couldn't help the misfit unfortunate.And now the state thinks capital punishment is going to bring closure to those innocent people who lost their lives.
I don't have the answer.
I have grandchildren for them I worry and feel sad that we as a society failed both the innocent victims and their murderer . And being sad and worrying not going to solve this. As the problem goes much deeper in our society as we are unable to help the people who need help..we just out caste them..💔🙏
To me capital punishment is unethical. It is an eye for an eye revenge which is very medieval. We as humans evolved since then ...and in today's environment it should be abolished. We know bulling is act of cruelty to our fellow human beings. The schools and parents in our society should be more aware of this cruel treatment. Most of these young people we go ontshooting spree are victims of bulling. We as parents and our schools are unable to teach our kids the horrible effct of bulling. We as a society out caste people with different set of family situation such as broken family ,drug addicted parents /guardians, mental illness etc etc.And if a child is born in such family..whose fault is that. Certainly not the child himself or herself. The child didn't chose the family. And a child born and raised in such family is shun in schools and other places. They become victims of bulling...and they want to end all that and they think killing spree is the revenge. What a tragedy we as society couldn't help the misfit misfortunate.And now the state thinks capital punishment is bring closure to those innocent people who lost their lives.
I don't have the answer.
I have grandchildren for them I worry and feel sad that we as a society failed both the innocent victims and their murderer . And being sad and worrying not going to solve this. As the problem goes much deeper in our society as we are unable to help the people who need help..we just out caste them..💔🙏
Joe, I am so happy you have written this, I was beginning to wonder if you were away. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I remember the 1972 action of the Supreme Court, I remember feeling relieved. Can we be safe by keeping convicted murderers under lock and key for life? Of course we can. I remember when the death penalty was re-established here in Oklahoma. A few years later another inmate was set for execution. The hype surrounding that execution, thanks in large part to our local media, guaranteed there were large crowds present for the event. The two camps were kept apart by the authorities and television cameras were there to record the two groups. The group opposed to the death penalty was about what one would have expected, somber, regretful, despondent. The other group was celebrating, laughing, drinking, partying. It was just like a minor league football team had just beat Alabama and the tailgate party was about to last all night. I truly hate capital punishment, not just for the taking by the state of someone's life, but also for how it diminishes the souls of people who might otherwise be good people.
You make a strong case for the abolition of the death penalty. I hope it is abandoned in all states.
Many thanks. Jean. There seems to be an increasing distaste for the death penalty. Texas remains the great exception. Through its progressive disuse, as noted, its abolition is not beyond question. I suspect that if we had a liberal, rather than a reactionary Supreme Court, it would conceivably, in time, be deemed a violation of the Eighth Amendment.