Murderers must pay

The religious and moral case for capital punishment is quite complex. The Sixth Commandment does not speak against killing.

The Old Testament is filled with examples of the lawful killing of sinners by man and God.

Translated from the original Hebrew, the key word accurately should read, “Thou shalt not murder.” Murder is quite a different thing from justifiable killing, as in a just war, self-defence or capital crime.

The overriding moral principle is “retribution.” A basic tenet of the law is that one who commits a crime be made to give up something he values in equal measure with the loss he inflicted on his victim. For the theft of life under the most barbaric and premeditated circumstances, equivalence requires the giving up of something the murderer equally values: his own life.

SIMON WRIGHT via email