Justice, mercy and the D.C. sniper
John Allen Muhammad, known as the D.C. sniper, will be executed tonight in Virginia. Muhammad, along with his protégé Lee Boyd Malvo, murdered 10 and terrorized millions for weeks, until he was captured in the fall of 2004. And when he dies tonight, there will likely be those outside the prison cheering the fact that "he's getting what he deserves" and an equal number of people protesting his "murder" by the state.
Are either of them right? Is there a Jewish approach to the death penalty? The short answers are, respectively, no and yes.
From a Jewish perspective, those who cheer the justice that Mr. Muhammad will receive through the tip of a needle are potentially correct about this being what he deserves. They are, however, almost certainly wrong that he should get it. Jewish tradition is not shy about declaring that many transgressions are deserving of the death penalty, but is equally powerful in its stance against its being carried out.
Despite the Hebrew Bible's teaching that many acts (and I mention these, in this context, as examples for historical purposes only) ranging from murder to witchcraft, and adultery to homosexuality, merit death at the hands of the court, there is only one case of a person being executed in the entire Five Books of Moses. The rabbis of the Mishnah (Makkot 1:10) teach that a court which executes even once in seven years is a "terrorist court", and according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah, the number is once in seventy years.
Even more interestingly, the rabbis teach in the tractate Sanhedrin, that a unanimous court can not impose the death penalty. That's right, the only court which is absolutely prohibited from carrying out a death sentence is the one which most of us assume is the one which should i.e. one in which all judges agree that it's the right thing to do.
The rabbis accept that there may be times when it has to happen, but cannot accept that any decision so momentous and complex should be seen the same way by everybody. If that happens, the rabbis tell us, we must be missing something and therefore can not execute the offender. Moreover, the system described by the rabbis makes it impossible to hide behind popular opinion.
The judges who vote for execution stand alongside those who vote against it and, because they will continue to work together, must acknowledge that among those they respect are people who think that they were dead wrong about the conclusion which they reached. Can the same be said about either group which will be outside the prison tonight?
Will either group admit the partial truth, or potential truth, embedded in the ideas of the group they oppose? If not, we are likely to continue ping-pong'ing along as a nation divided between two opposing groups, neither of whom can address the real issues of justice and compassion and how a legal system must hold those values in relationship.
Overwhelmingly, Jewish tradition seems to value the idea of the death penalty as a moral statement, even as it resists its imposition on ethical grounds. While that might not be the position we should adopt as a nation, it's surely an interesting basis upon which to talk about what will happen to John Muhammad at nine tonight.
By
Brad Hirschfield
|
November 10, 2009; 9:29 AM ET
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Posted by: coloradodog | November 12, 2009 4:27 PM
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Once again, the taxpayers/citizens of the USA need to defend ourselves against terror and aggression. On many fronts, this requires the deletion/killing of the transgressors.
A synopsis of said defense since WWII starting with a body count from the last ten years:
The terror and aggression via a Partial and Recent Body Count
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops, 3,469 killed action and 871 non-combat and 93,040 – 101,537 Iraqi civilians killed, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
10) Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan: US troops killed in action 562, 176 killed in non-combat situations as of 9/02/09.
11) the killing of 13 USA citizen soldiers at Ft. Hood by a Muslim fanatic.
continued below:
Posted by: ccnl1 | November 12, 2009 11:15 AM
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Other elements in our defense against terror and aggression:
- Saddam, his sons and major henchmen have been deleted. Saddam's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes.
- Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
- Libya has become almost civil. Recently Libya agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the victims of their terrorist activities Apparently this new reality from an Islamic country has upset OBL and his “crazies” as they have threatened Libya. OBL sure is a disgrace to the world especially the Moslem world!!! Or is he???
- North Korea is still uncivil but is contained. With the opening up of rail traffic between North and South Korea after 50 years and with the assistance of the US Navy in retrieving NK ships and personnel hopefully a fresh sense of civility is afoot.
- North Korea was taken off the terrorist country list recently.
- Northern Ireland is finally at peace.
- The Jews and Palestinians are being separated by walls. Hopefully the walls will follow the 1948 UN accords. Unfortunately the Annapolis Peace Conference was not successful. Unfortunately the recent events in Gaza has put this situation back to “square one”. And this significant stupidity is driven by the mythical foundations of both religions!!!
- Bin Laden has been cornered under a rock in Western Pakistan since 9/11.
- Fanatical Islam has basically been contained to the Middle East but a wall between India and Pakistan would be a plus for world peace. Ditto for a wall between Afghanhistan and Pakistan.
- Timothy McVeigh was executed. Terry Nichols will follow soon.
- Eric Rudolph is spending three life terms in prison with no parole.
- Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK were all dealt with and either eliminated themselves or are being punished.
- Islamic Sudan, Darfur and Somalia are still terror hot spots.
- The terror and torture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Radovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war -- charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
- And of course the bloody terror brought about the Japanese, Nazis and Communists was with great difficulty eliminated by the good guys.
Posted by: ccnl1 | November 12, 2009 11:05 AM
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How typical for the followers of Abrahamic religions to conveniently pick and choose which scriptures and commandments to obey. When their god said, "Tho shall not kill," they think he then hired lawyers to place an * with a legal disclaimer that reads:
*except those convicted of murder, infidels as defined by Islam, Palestinian children, unborn children, heretics, witches, communists, gays, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims with vast oil reserves, Muslims who threaten Israel, those killed by "just" pre-emptive war and anyone else who are condemned by religious fatwah or pronouncement by the clergy. Those exempt from this holy commandment may also torture first before killing for extra Abrahamic castigation of said offenses. (Side effects may include smugness, exhilarated feelings of revenge, self-righteousness and a delusional self-entitlement to judge and condemn to death anyone different or who disagrees with god's holy and infallible word as determined by the mortals in charge or with the power to pontificate said holy word in the press).
Posted by: coloradodog | November 12, 2009 9:40 AM
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Can't wait to see Farnaz's response to " whistling"'s anti-Semitism. Or is there something else going on here??????
Posted by: ccnl1 | November 11, 2009 5:21 PM
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Athena,
"...I'd gladly pay for the chance to tap-dance on that psycho's grave."
My my, athena, not your usual self today, or is this just the shadow rising. Not your usual live and let live, liberal side tone. Nice to see there is more to thee.
Posted by: justillthennow | November 11, 2009 2:31 PM
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Yack yack yack
about the DC sniper.
Do let's hear about what the Jewish tradition thinks about phorphorous burning of Arab children?
Shnall we address cluster bombs, used against Lehanese children and women (and against US mandates)?
Shouldn't Americans see up close the apartheid in the West Bank, where the terribly terribly
God Like settlers grab the hills and the water and send their sewage down the hill
to the Palestininas whose land it is...
they think it's sooo funny.
the sniper activity, using Palestininans for target practice.
And most of all, the Israelis laughing about their deeds, the Jewish ethic would be seen for what it is...
has always been. The whole world knows and
hates them for it. Now and in the past.
And still we get this crud from the Post's rabbi.
Posted by: whistling | November 11, 2009 10:56 AM
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This person will not murder again and set a exsample for others who whould want to repeat his crime. To you do-gooders, your policy is very costly to the taxpayers and set no exsample for others.
Posted by: usapdx | November 11, 2009 10:23 AM
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I'm normally ambivalent about the death penalty, and think that it should be used only in the most extreme cases.
John Allen Mohammed is one of those extreme cases.
IMHO, the state of Virginia should have sold tickets to his execution and had it on Pay-Per-View. It would have solved their budget shortfalls! As someone whose spouse had to drive through the kill zone, and lived right down the street from where he and Malvo stopped one night, I'd gladly pay for the chance to tap-dance on that psycho's grave.
I'm sorry if that seems a little blood-thirsty. Tough.
Posted by: Athena4 | November 10, 2009 5:37 PM
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The only possible argument against executing JA Muhammed would be that there shouldn't be a death penalty at all. If it's to exist, this guy deserves it for killing 10 COMPLETELY innocent people going about the most ordinary of daily tasks.
The court that sentenced him, BTW, did NOT condemn his accomplice, so there's no possible way it was a blood-lust court.
JA Muhammed is already getting the mercy of a humane execution because our country has banned cruel, painful ones.
Posted by: WmarkW | November 10, 2009 12:23 PM
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Hmmm, according to Rabbi Hirschfield "there is only one case of a person being executed in the entire Five Books of Moses".
So how are the following deaths/killings classified?
"Exodus 32: 3,000 Israelites killed by Moses for worshipping the golden calf.
Numbers 31: After killing all men, boys and married women among the Midianites, 32,000 virgins remain as booty for the Israelites. (If unmarried girls are a quarter of the population, then 96,000 people were killed). "
Posted by: ccnl1 | November 10, 2009 11:24 AM
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one can only hope ccnl1's hard drive crashes without back up so he will have to write something original instead of repeatedly cutting and pasting the same comments over and over again ad nausem