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An Eye for an Eye, a Life for a Life? Capital Punishment: A Jewish Perspective
The Republican sweep in last November's elections dealt a blow to opponents of the death penalty. Especially on the local level, many Republican candidates in key states like New York and Florida campaigned aggressively on the issue of capital punishment in an effort to appeal to an electorate which is clamoring for such retribution more loudly than ever. Advocates of the death penalty cite several reasons, both religious and non-religious, to support its use: it is mandated in the Bible; it is just retribution; it is less costly than imprisoning someone for life; it is an effective deterrent. All these arguments, however, prove flawed. Upon closer examination, it is clear that we must, both as Jews and as members of society, maintain our opposition to the death penalty.
The Jewish tradition offers important perspectives to our current debate on capital punishment. Although a religious justification may be found for the death penalty in the Hebrew Scriptures, later generations required such a heavy burden of proof to be imposed for conviction that, as a practical matter, enforcement of capital punishment became virtually impossible. The Talmud placed stringent restrictions on the amount of evidence, the number of witnesses, and the type of testimony required for a capital conviction. Moreover, proof of guilty intent was required, and it had to be proven that the defendant was warned, prior to committing the crime, what his punishment would be. Overall, the scales of justice were weighed heavily in the defendant's favor. Such impediments to the use of the death penalty reflected both the dominant rabbinic view on the matter and the absolute necessity not to execute an innocent person - "Do not bring death on those who are innocent and in the right." (Exodus 23:7)
The Talmud records the following passage, which is often cited to show the limits of capital punishment:
A Sanhedrin that executes [a criminal] once in seven years is known as destructive. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah says: Once in seventy years. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva say: If we had been members of the Sanhedrin, no man would ever have been executed. Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel says: They [Rabbi Tarfon...