Death Penalty Restorative vs. Retributive Justice
Lemons Jr., K.R. “Kenny”
Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT)
Moses climbed Mt. Sinai and heard the words of almighty God, and these words were the Ten Commandments. One of these commandments was; “Thou Shall Not Kill”, yet in the teachings of the Holy Bible there are many places that describe killing, the killing of people in the interest of revenge, take for instance Deuteronomy 19:21; “Thus you shall not pity: life for a life, eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot.” The Death Penalty is the most controversial issue in existence today; it has been used for hundreds of years as a way for society to seek revenge in the name of justice. However, the means in which people and the crimes that they are sentenced to death for have changed over the years, one constant factor continues to be argued, and that is; does the death penalty have any deterrent factor in preventing violent crime, or has it become an in-effective tool due to the time it takes to put the condemned to death following conviction. The burden of proof to sentence someone to death should be changed from “proof beyond a reasonable doubt”, to “proof beyond any doubt”. This small change along with setting time limits on executions, will speed up executions, and begin to be a deterrent factor again. Punishment should be swift, and certain. It is the certainty of punishment that is the deterrent, not the punishment itself.