Eugene Volokh says that it's just and right for Iran to brutally torture a serial killer to death. Of the killer,
Mohammad Bijeh, 24, dubbed "the Tehran desert vampire" by Iran's press, was flogged 100 times before being hanged.A brother of one of his young victims stabbed him as he was being punished. The mother of another victim was asked to put the noose around his neck.
The execution took place in Pakdasht south of Tehran, near where Bijeh's year-long killing spree took place.
The killer was hoisted about 10 metres into the air by a crane and slowly throttled to death in front of the baying crowd.
Hanging by a crane - a common form of execution in Iran - does not involve a swift death as the condemned prisoner's neck is not broken. ...
The crimes of Mohammed Bijeh and his accomplice Ali Baghi had drawn massive attention in the Iranian media.
They reportedly tricked children to go with them into the desert south of Tehran by saying they were going to hunt animals. They then poisoned or knocked their victims out, sexually abused them and buried them in shallow graves.
Professor Volokh writes:
I particularly like the involvement of the victims' relatives in the killing of the monster; I think that if he'd killed one of my relatives, I would have wanted to play a role in killing him. Also, though for many instances I would prefer less painful forms of execution, I am especially pleased that the killing — and, yes, I am happy to call it a killing, a perfectly proper term for a perfectly proper act — was a slow throttling, and was preceded by a flogging. The one thing that troubles me (besides the fact that the murderer could only be killed once) is that the accomplice was sentenced to only 15 years in prison, but perhaps there's a good explanation.
I am being perfectly serious, by the way. I like civilization, but some forms of savagery deserve to be met not just with cold, bloodless justice but with the deliberate infliction of pain, with cruel vengeance rather than with supposed humaneness or squeamishness. I think it slights the burning injustice of the murders, and the pain of the families, to react in any other way.
Clayton Cramer disagrees as such:
What I find especially disturbing is the notion, expressed by Professor Volokh, that this torturous revenge constitutes justice. Does it bring back the dead children? Does it go back in time and prevent their suffering? Does it make the living less traumatized by what happened to their children? No.There's a famous quote by Gandhi, "An eye for an eye will blind the world." Perhaps executing monsters like this makes sense, especially if you live in a society where it is impossible to keep them locked up for life, or where powerful forces (like the ACLU) argue that murderers should not be executed, but people who have committed no crime should be starved to death [Terry Schiavo]. Adding torture to the execution doesn't do anything but lower our society to the level of the savages.
I've never really liked that quote by Gandhi, because I don't think it's true. The Biblical standard for punishment is laid down not for personal revenge, but for justice imposed by the public.
Leviticus 24:17-2217 " 'If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution-life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. 22 You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.' "
Despite what Gandhi asserted, most of us don't intentionally attack or violate other people, or even cause property damage for which restitution must be made. Perhaps if these instructions for punishment were taken as license for vigilantism I could see Gandhi's point, but that's obviously not the intent.
As for Professor Volokh's original position, I think it's clear that he's right from a Biblical perspective. God commands that the punishment fit the crime, and it is by his divine authority that human agents are justified (and required) to carry out those punishments against another human being.
The Bible says "vengeance is mine" which by extension means that it isn't ours.
People who favor torture are a lot of things, but one thing they can't claim to be is a Christian.
JT: Well there's obviously a difference between punishment and revenge, and there's no reason to assume that torture must be one and not the other. Besides, the Bible is pretty black and white there where it describes crimes and punishments. It's not like I'm reading my own views into it -- it's entirely literal.
The background story is that police could arrest this guy after his 2nd murder but they closed their eyes and did nothing despite the warnings of the victims' families. They even suspected the guy but did nothing.
After this case was escalated to 36 murders, police finally came in. So they arrested the same guy that they could arrest after the 2nd murder. Isn't police also accountable for this tragedy when they don't do their job?
This guy is a serial killer and there is no doubt about it but he is a little part of the big picture of a society where millions and millions of people are subjected to daily social, political and religious repressions. In the same tyranny, they arrest and torture the human right activists and political dissidents. How much chances this guy got to recieve a fair and equal life? We should ask what exactly brought him to his maniac state of mind?
The regime creates these monsters by denying people's very basic civil rights. Then let them spread in the wilds and do nothing to stop them, and when all is done and said they just hang the guy in such a barbaric way in order to cause false fear and vengance in the heart of people.
People are still angry of the police in why they didn't act earlier and faster, despite the fact that this guy was all known to them as a serious suspect but they did nothing because they don't care and do nothing without a bribe and because this happened in a very poor neighbour and people couldn't pay, the police just closed their eyes and a tragedy that they could prevent after the 2nd murder went to 36 murders.
First deny the very basic civil rights of the people, then punish them according to the same laws that you denied good half of it to them! It's just not right my friends and there is no sympathy and justification for this in 2005 AD.
KianB: You're very right in saying that the Iranian regime is evil and oppressive. But I don't buy that this guy was made into a killer because of oppression... we've got plenty of killers here in America too. And yes, I don't doubt that the Iranian police are rather ineffective and that they could have caught this guy sooner. But I also wouldn't have objected to this punishment if Bijeh had only killed two children.
Michael,
I don't think Leviticus is the standard for Christians. I believe that Christ raised us to a higher standard in which we seek that life be redeemed rather than extinguished.
Do you really favor the death penalty for each and every murderer? Do you really favor executing all gays?
I thought Christianity was based on forgiveness, compassion, charity. That doesn't mean releasing them of course, but you certainly don't make people better by killing them.
And even if it's great to correctly punish 99 murderers by death, wouldn't it suck to kill one we thought was a savage murderer, but wasn't?
"I think it slights the burning injustice of the murders, and the pain of the families, to react in any other way": So would it be less punishable a crime to kill someone for whom nobody cared?
"..but people who have committed no crime should be starved to death"
Lots of people who have committed no crime starve to death. They've been doing it in droves, for years, and still are. Why does it take a high profile case for politicians to take a stand.
(This whole case wouldn't have been an issue fifty years ago, as the technology would not have existed to have sustained her this long. Is it the case now that the Right Wing is willing to pay for and provide life support, or heck while they're at it, preventative measures like standard medical care, to anyone who wishes it? Schiavo's feeding tube is supported by Medicare.)
michelle: Yes, executing a person wrongly is a horrible injustice. Should we eliminate the death penalty to prevent that potential? Some say yes. I don't think so. As with any system, perfection is impossible.
Should murderers who kill victims that no one cares about be punished less harshly? No, because again, the point of punishment isn't to satisfy the families of the victims, but to punish the offender and demonstrate that society abhors them and their crimes.
As for Christianity, I quoted the Bible where punishment is directly commanded. No abstract arguments about forgiveness or charity can outweigh that. It merely reflects that your conception of forgiveness and charity are mistaken.
Who is starving to death by droves? No one in America. Plenty of people in other countries, and why? Because they're victims of tyrannical governments. Are you saying we should overthrow those governments? Hey, not a bad idea. If possible, we should at least work in that direction.
There already is standard and emergency medical care for anyone who needs it. ("Wishes it"?)
I read many of us claim to be Christians. That torture and public executions are for savages. Like the public execution of the child killers in Iran recently, who were flogged and hung. Who the hell are you to claim to be so much better than any other race, creed, or faith. They did what they saw fit. We on the other hand just let "Mrs. Terri Schiavo" die slowly. My, how Christian a people are we!
MG: Read your Bible, there's plenty "torture and public executions" commanded by God in there. I'm not claiming Christianity is "better" in some subjective sense, I'm just claiming it's right and other religions are wrong.