Why I Deplore the Death Penalty
April 18th, 2006 by Erin Pavlina
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Today I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?” Amen to that! That pretty much sums up how I feel about the death penalty.
I am approaching this topic from a very 4th dimensional perspective, and if you follow my reasoning along this path you might agree with me. No one has the right to prematurely end another’s life. I don’t care if it’s one person to another, or one country to another. Purposely ending the experience of an incarnated soul breaks a spiritual chain. It’s like purposely removing a piece from a puzzle; if you do that, you can never really see the true picture. You can infer, but you can’t really know.
What about people who murder children or kill thousands of people with a bomb? Same thing. We, as a society, do not have the right to kill … anyone … for any reason, whatsoever. It amazes me that it’s illegal to kill yourself but it’s perfectly fine to bomb another country and kill innocent children. If a person wants to end their own life and they are fully aware of the consequences (spiritual and physical) of doing so, then more power to them. Sometimes going “home” is the only option to end suffering. But that’s up to the person making that decision.
If we don’t kill the murderers, then what are we supposed to do with them? That’s a great question. But just because we may not have the best answer to that question doesn’t mean we should give up trying to find one. I personally believe that when someone callously and without conscience takes the life of another human being that they should be removed from society and rehabilitated. Not with punishment and control but with love. I know, I know. It sounds like I’m living in a dream world (wouldn’t be the first time 
). But in an ideal world, people wouldn’t dream of taking the life of another human being. If we could learn to love and to teach our children how to love, if we can teach our children the value of existence, if we can show love and compassion to everyone then we’ll never have to figure out what to do with murderers because there won’t be any.
What about the victims and their families? Don’t they deserve justice? The victims and their families deserve compassion, love, support, and healing. I’m not saying murderers should walk free and go to Disneyland. People who are unable to respect the personal rights of others should not be allowed to be with others. In a perfect world, they should be removed to an island, given serious rehabilitation, given tons of love and support, and when they are ready, they should be integrated back into society. They shouldn’t sit around in a jail cell; they should be shown how to love and learn to be contributing members of society. Arbitrary prison sentences are stupid. Who knows if a criminal will be rehabilitated in 6 years or 50? A criminal should stay on the island until he or she is fully rehabilitated. Or, they should live out the rest of their lives on that island, away from society.
What about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Totally misinterpreted, people. That doesn’t mean that if someone slaps you that you should slap them back. An eye for an eye means that when you hurt someone, you are hurt. Your soul is hurt. Your karma is sown. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and all that. If someone harms me that’s something they have to bear. If I harm them back, we’re not even. Now we’re both going to reap karma for our actions.
We need to spend more time teaching our children to grow up compassionately instead of finding new ways to punish people who commit crimes. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
A murderer should be given the opportunity to make amends for their actions. Hey, it may never happen, but they should still be given the opportunity.
If you are in favor of the death penalty just remember that you are in favor of murder. Call it justified if you want, it’s still murder.
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April 18th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Damn right! I must admit though I was for the death penalty until I read this and it has changed my view possibly forever!
Thanks again Erin
April 18th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Well I guess the old “eye for an eye” is easier to accept then “love your neighbour like yourself” or the part about forgiveness… what was it? 99 times?
April 18th, 2006 at 11:23 am
Good article. I also wrote something similar over here: Forgiveness.
April 19th, 2006 at 2:00 am
Isn’t it strange that talking about sex and making love is such a taboo and yet the topic of murder and killing is so prolific in everything that we do, see and hear! Just look at music and video games….they are filled with violence and murder which is seen as the norm and yet almost every swear word is a sexually derogatory term. Lets try and educate people on the alternatives sooner rather than later!
April 19th, 2006 at 8:08 am
It bothers me to hear that you believe killing others is wrong but killing yourself is okay. What about those who opt to take their own lives when it’s not their only option? “Eye for an eye” — suicide hurts the victim and their loved ones. Euthanasia is another story, but then how do you define euthanasia? Is misery not worth living with a terminal disease like cancer, or like clinical depression?
And what about the clinically insane, who even in your utopia couldn’t be rehabilitated? Are they locked up? Let loose on an insland with other murderers? Let loose on an uninhabited island with supplied airdropped once a month? Compassion dictates that they are taken care of, but how do you take care of somebody whose brain is flawed, who gets kicks out of torturing and killing things?
All of this leads me to yet another question — how is a morally conscious person supposed to deal with crazy people? How should we as a society treat the people that are insane and harm others? Insane and harm themselves? Insane but harmless, like the poor souls wandering around San Francisco?
And what is your interpretation of justice? How can amends be made for different crimes? What can make up for terminating a life, sexually abusing somebody, gaining and abusing the trust of the public — things that don’t have any comparable monetary value?
And is teaching our children compassion enough to make up for not teaching them consequences? Or is it that we need to redefine suitable consequences for actions, like how you redefined “eye for an eye”? Which kind of goes back to — what is justice?
I’m sorry for so many questions, but I’m not being facetious, I really am interested in hearing what you think, if you have the time. :’(
April 19th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Elaine, your questions are good ones. While I hope people are never put in a position where they feel suicide is their best course, I defend people’s “right” to commit suicide. Suicide causes spiritual problems for both the living and deceased.
Justice… I believe in restorative justice, not retibutive. For more information on that, read this article:
The mentally impaired: That’s a subject that would take more than a comment to address so I will add it to my list of topics to blog about. Good question though!
Also, I’m not saying all criminals should be put on an island or relegated to isolation, just the very violent ones. And I think they should stay there until they can peacefully enter society once again.
The system is broken at many levels. We as a society need to address the underlying issues of why people commit crimes. We need to use our resources towards prevention, not cures. But in the meantime, we don’t have the right to kill people just because we’re not sure what to do with them.
April 19th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
I thought the “eye for an eye” was a limitation on what you could do to people. For instance, if someone stole your bread, you could steal their bread at most. You couldn’t go to their house, burn it down and take their bread. It was regarded as a maximum limit rather than a minimum requirement. If you approach it as a max limit, you could get at most do to them what they did you to but that’s it. If you approach it as a minimum requirement then you have to at the minimum do to them what they did to you.
April 21st, 2006 at 8:26 am
Erin, suicide is not an end to pain. People go through a cycle of births and deaths through lower life forms (according to many beliefs).SO it is not quite as simple as hitting reset. Although, according to these same beliefs, (verified by many experiences of many people) suides do get a second chance.
April 21st, 2006 at 8:30 am
I meant an end to physical pain. I know suicides have a lot of work to do after they take their life.
April 23rd, 2006 at 5:16 am
Interesting entry. Enjoying your blog generally having come here from Steve’s.
I’m looking forward to you addressing the issue of the “mentally impaired” and the insane. I have some thoughts of my own about this having read Elaine’s comments. My first thought is that the way of the world is insanity in itself, so who is to judge another insane? Which one of us has absorbed none of the insanity that the world shows us? Even my son Samuel who is not quite a year old has clearly learned some insane approaches to life from his parents.
Keep up the good work, Erin.
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:45 am
It occurred to me that some of the contributors may be inclined to write to someone on Death Row. Some have no visitors, or writers at all and have been there since quite young and for several years.
If interested there are two groups that I know of Lifelines and Human Writes. Both have websites as far as I remember.
May 2nd, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I agree with your assesment of the death penalty for essentially the same reasons. I do have one question, however: what is your opinion on abortion?
I find it interesting that many people can be in favor of or against one, and maintain the opposite position with regard to the other. To me, ending life is ending life and consequently both abortion and the death penalty are wrong.
I do consider myself to be open-minded in that I will listen to and evaluate any position, so I am interested in any comments you may have.
Thanks.
May 4th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
I may discuss abortion in a future entry. It certainly polarizes people, doesn’t it?
August 18th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Erin, God bless you for your view on the death penalty which is so right on. Among my friends I am in the minority with my views on this but I am absolutely certain that it is WRONG to condone killing a human being in any way, shape or form. And it’s simply illogical to to think you can justify executing someone even if they’ve murdered someone else. Simple formula: Killing = WRONG. End of story. Regardless of who does the killing, whether it be an individual or the state, and whether it be executing one person and calling it “capital punishment” or killing mass numbers of people in a war, which is mass murder, it is all equally wrong. This seems simple to me but apparently not to everyone.
October 9th, 2006 at 5:25 am
I have enjoyed your site Erin. How can you be sure that to die at the hands of another in the act of murder is indeed premature? You have reinforced your view that we all decide when it is time for us to pass, & that it is left to the universe to determine how after we have determined when. perchance the act of murder is not premature at all? perchance it is just another method of “going home”, as effective as a car accident or heart attack? as terrifying as the concept is, how are you differentiating the cause?
December 15th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
[...] Originally Posted by AlmostGone I find it interesting that you possess the compassion you claim. If I may ask, why wouldn’t you kill Nazis during WWII? I understand non-violence when possible. But Nazi Germany was killing Jews as fast as it could. Indiscriminately killing men, women, and children who committed the crime of being a Jew. Do you not acknowledge the existence of evil? I don’t think the millions of your faith who were slaughtered like livestock were victims of some misunderstanding. They saw the face of evil, the Nazis of 20th century Germany. Men are not evil, though they may commit evil acts. There is humanity in everyone. Yes, even killers. Doesn’t mean I condone killing, but I would never say a person is evil because that would be incorrect. You’re saying that I am not compassionate if I refuse to kill people? Wow, that’s a new one. Not sure I can wrap my head around it. Killing in retaliation for killing does not bring peace. How does that saying go? "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity." You can’t fix the problem by becoming part of it. Oh there’s another bumper sticker I love. "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?" And yeah, I oppose the death penalty. Here is my take on that: Why I Deplore the Death Penalty __________________ Erin Pavlina Psychic Medium, Author, Speaker, Blogger, Wife to Steve Pavlina "Erin’s reading was unbelievably insightful. In just 20 minutes she helped me sort through 4 major areas of my life that I’ve been struggling with in therapy for more than 8 years! I was stunned. I’m truly amazed at her abilities, and I am so thankful I found her when I did." - Jeanette in Tulsa, OK [...]