From what I've read, the now-condemned Scott Peterson went to church from time to time, so maybe he's familiar with this verse:
Genesis 9:6"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man."
That's God commanding Noah after the flood, laying down one of the few laws given in the book of Genesis. Many people, even some Christians, have a completely twisted view of God and think that because man was created in his image we should never take another man's life; in fact, as can be seen in this verse, our Godlikeness is exactly why capital punishment is required by the principles of justice.
Here's some death row statistics from the California Department of Corrections from 2002.
Total Received (1978 to Date): 717
Sentence overturned; resentenced or released: 60
Death sentence was from another state; returned to that state: 2
Suicide: 13
Died: 22
Executed: 10
Here's more capital punishment information for the state of California, including lethal injection procedures and photos of death row.
Considering two inmates are living who were condemned in 1978, Scott Peterson probably has quite a lot of life left in him. The 10 inmates who were executed spent an average of 16.03 years on death row before meeting their fates.
We have to factor in Peterson's low IQ. Obviously, you don't "borrow" your brother's ID, dye your hair, grow a beard, hang out on the Mexican border and have $10,000 on you in hard cash just so you can go shopping in Tijuana --right after your pregnant wife disappears. Duh. That's like Rule #1 in the Murderer's Handbook. So this leads us to believe, logically, that Peterson cannot read. Otherwise he would have read Rule #1, right? Right. Thus, he is stupid and will probably wander into the death chamber by accident (not being able to read signs) and being tired, lay down on the table. I predict his death within 5 years.
Better yet, compare it to the way we do things in Texas since 1974:
Total sentences: 959
Total removed from Death Row: 166
Total executed: 313
Total died: 27
You sure as hell don't sit on Texas' death row until you die of natural causes. (The "removed" column includes those whose sentences were reduced, and the "died" includes those who were killed during escape attempts. YEEEEEEhaw!)
Excellent point. My only caveat is that I like the fact that our justice system has the checks and balances of appeal rather than hangings at dawn.
I am also reminded of another Scripture that "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Murderers are not without the hope of saving grace, and we should not be eager for vengance, but afford them ample opportunity for repentance before justice is rightfully meeted out.
are you in favour of the American justice system being based on one particular religion? How would you feel about adopting laws which are justified by Islam?
I hope that a biblical basis is not sufficient for your legislators to pass law.
Also, I worry about whether, as a Christian, you should cling to the justice systems prescribed in the old testament; I guess you're not circumscised and wear the wrong sorts of cloth and so on.
j: I'm in favor of the legislature voting on laws using whatever criteria their constituents want. It's called democracy.
it is therefore quite likely that if capital punishment is persued it would not be applied completely biblically. Under those circumstances, wouldn't it be best to avoid it. Ie, is it better to have imperfect capital punishment or no capital punishment?
jez: There's no such thing as a perfect legal system. Therefore, I'd prefer an imperfect one to none at all.
So, to be perfectly clear, you would rather have capital punishment applied imperfectly than an (imperfect) legal system which does not allow recourse to the death penalty?
I ask for clarification because it is for the very reason that a perfect legal system is impossible that I prefer to avoid death penalties. To me the question is about which mistake I'm least unhappy about making.
jez: Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I think the death penalty should only be applied when there's no doubt involved. Convicts should have access to the best DNA technology and that sort of thing. But the ones who are guilty should be executed.