Death Penalty
Death Penalty
Death Penalty
The code of Kalantiao, the oldest recorded body of laws of our early ancestors showed the strictness under the barangay that existed and based their moral acceptance of right and wrong. For example, anyone caught stealing would be penalized by suffering the loss of finger. The graver the theft, the more fingers were cut and if the theft was very grave, the hands was chopped off, therefore it is understandable that even in the Early periods of our history there are certain punishment for a offense, that even the code of Kalantiao imposed death penalty for rape and murder that is considered as heinous crime. Today, the State itself has different punishment opposite to its offence, our legislators implement and pass a Bill that will sentenced a grave offender of crime, one of it is the Republic Act No. 7659 or the Death Penalty Act which gathers many controversies on its implementation, according to this act a criminal who has been proven guilty to a heinous crime with the proper due process of law will be executed. An eye for an eye does not mean vengeance, for the Almighty God himself said, vengeance is mine and by this he meant he would met justice in accordance with his mysterious way through the Ten Commandments from which morals laws were taken. Precisely no one has the right to deprive another person of his life, degrade him or her to the status of an animal, or abuse and debase a person to the extent of destroying forever his or her dignity. But how about the victims? Those who were murdered and raped, those children who were abduct for ransom and then killed, for those school kids and teenagers who buys drugs and in the process slowly or make them criminals, rapist and murderers while the pushers enrich themselves.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY For the past few years, Death penalty has been a big issue to our country. Some people are in favor of it, but most are not. Just imagine our country if death penalty is on the go? Death penalty is a way to lessen crime in our country. Death penalty controls crime in some countries like China. As we all know, death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is a way of sentencing someone to death because of a certain committed crime, and is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. The expression Capital Punishment or the Death Penalty is ambiguous, referring to a species of acts, acts of executing someone for conduct judge to be criminal. It often refers to a certain kind of social institution. The institution of capital punishment is one pattern of punishment that forms part of our legal system in many, but not all, societies. It involves certain roles like those of the executioner and the criminal and certain rules such as the rule that only person condemned to death by courts is to be executed. In most society, the punishment for murder is execution. In the Philippines we have the same act, the R.A. no. 7659 or the death penalty act. This studys purpose is to shed light on the advantages and disadvantages of having the death penalty here in the Philippines, from both a moral and legal standpoint. It will hopefully help the right people see if the death penalty is worth having here in the Philippines, so they can make the good decision when the time comes.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The philosophical component of the death penalty debate concerns whether executing criminals is ever a morally defensible form of punishment. Of the many moral justifications offered, three of the most important ones draw on the notions of rights forfeiture, retribution, and deterrence. Crime is an act that is dened by the validly passed laws of the nation state in which it occurred so that punishment should follow from the behavior. Only such acts are crimes. Legal punishment is concerned with forms of lawful punishment applied through the courts. Punishment may take forms ranging from fines, forced labor, flogging, mutilation of the body, and imprisonment to capital punishment or what we call the death penalty. There are many methods of Death Penalty Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Gas Chamber, Hanging, Firing Squad, and beheading. We all know that the wage of sin is death. In this study, we will see if death penalty is moral or immoral. Is it a clear violation of the right to live? We will see if it is right to kill a person because of his sins. Is death penalty the only way for a person to atone for his sins?
DEFINITION OF TERMS Crucifixion Crucifixion is a form of slow and painful execution in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead. Electric chair It is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body. Flogging To beat severely with a whip or rod. Guillotine The guillotine is a device designed for carrying out executions by beheading. It consists of a tall upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. Infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants. Neonaticide, killing within 24 hours of a child's birth, is most commonly done by the mother whereas infanticide of a child more than one day old is slightly more likely to be committed by the father. Islamic sharia law It is the moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion. Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, everyday etiquette and fasting. Kalantiao Datu Kalantiaw (Rajah Bendahara Kalantiaw) (sometimes spelled Kalantiao) is a mythical Filipino character who was said to have created the first legal code in the Philippines, known as the Code of Kalantiaw, in 1433. Law of hodud Hudud (Arabic: udd, also transliterated hadud, hudood; singular hadd, , literal meaning "limit", or "restriction") is the word often used in Islamicliterature for the bounds of acceptable behaviour and the punishments for serious crimes. In Islamic law or Sharia, hudud usually refers to the class of punishments that are fixed for certain crimes that are considered to be "claims of God." They include theft, fornication and adultery (zina), consumption of alcohol or other intoxicants, and apostasy (see apostasy in Islam). Nazis The Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945. Nazism, or National Socialism in full (German: Nationalsozialismus), is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party andstate as well as other related far-right groups. Usually characterised as a form of fascism that incorporates scientific racism and antisemitism. Plunder
Steal goods from (a place or person), typically using force and in a time of war or civil disorder. Reclusion Perpetua Reclusin perpetua (Spanish, from Latin: reclusio perpetua, meaning "permanent imprisonment") is a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment in the Philippines, Argentina, and several other countries. In the Philippines, it is one of two sentences (the other being life imprisonment) designed to replace the death penalty and is in legal parlance near-synonymous with life imprisonment. Stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until death ensues. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability.
I.
KINDS MODERN METHODS OF EXECUTION A. CRUCIFIXION History: Crucifixion was most common in ancient Rome. Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross (of various shapes) and left to hang until dead. In the eyes of the Romans, crucifixion's deterrent effects probably justified what was otherwise a highly inefficient form of execution. In the year 337 Emperor Constantine I abolished it this method of execution in the Roman Empire, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion. Although it has never been legal in the United States, it is worth noting that a CIA interrogator killed Manadel al-Jamadi in Abu Ghraib Prison in 2003 by crucifixion. The only country to practice crucifixion as an official form of capital punishment is the Sudan. Overview: Death could result from any combination of causes, including blood loss, hypovolemic shock, or sepsis following infection, caused by the scourging that preceded the crucifixion, or by the process of being nailed itself, or eventual dehydration. B. BEAHEADING History: The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded decapitation as a comparatively honorable form of execution for criminals. In renaissance-era Europe, the process was automated by way of a device called a guillotine, which dropped a heavy blade through the prisoner's neck--allowing for a clean, instant decapitation. Overview: In some nations that adhere to Islamic Sharia law, beheadings are still a commonly used method of execution. The most frequently seen cases involve beheading by a curved, single-edged sword. While many nations allow beheading by law, Saudi Arabia is the country that uses it most often. The sentence is normally carried out on a Friday night in public outside the main mosque of the city after prayers. The penalty can be dealt for rape, murder, drug related crimes, and apostasy. Saudi Arabian officials state that they are not in breach of international law because the sentence is not carried out until the child has reached the age of 18. C. STONING Stoning, or lapidating, is a form of capital throws stones at a person until death ensues. punishment whereby a group
History: Stoning is arguably the world's oldest form of execution. It is as old as written literature, and the most common death penalty described in the Bible (John 8.7: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"). Overview: Under Islamic Sharia law, stoning is an acceptable method of execution and it is used in many Islamic nations. In Iran, stoning is sanctioned for adultery and
other crimes. Article 104 of the Law of Hodoud provides that the stones should not be so large that a person dies after being hit with two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles, but must cause severe injury. The penalty for adultery under Article 83 of the pena l code, called the Law of Hodoud is flogging (100 lashes of the whip) for unmarried male and female offenders. Married offenders may be punished by stoning regardless of their gender, but the method laid down for a man involves his burial up to his waist, and for a woman up to her neck (article 102). The law provides that if a person who is to be stoned manages to escape, he or she will be allowed to go free. Since it is easier for a man to escape, this discrimination literally becomes a matter of life and death. D. HANGING Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck History: Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since medieval times, and is the official execution method in many countries and regions. The Book of Esther, for example, centers on the hanging of the genocidal traitor Haman. Overview: Hanging is carried out in a variety of ways The short drop is when the prisoner is made to stand on an object which is then thrust away leaving them to die by strangulation. This was a common method of hanging used by the Nazis and was the most common form used before the 1850s. Death is slow and painful. Suspension hanging (very popular in Iran) is when the gallows itself is movable. The prisoner stands on the ground with the noose around their neck and the gallows is then lifted in to the air, taking the prisoner with it. The standard drop was in common use in English nations after the 1850s it involved tying the noose around the prisoners neck and then dropping them a short distance (usually 4 -6 feet) to break the neck. Long drop was devised in 1872 in which the weight of a person was taken in to account to determine the correct rope and drop to be used to ensure the breaking of the neck. E. FIRING SQUAD A group of men fire a single bullet in to the heart of the prisoner (blind folded and restrained). The firing squad is considered by many to be the most honorable method of execution, and for that reason it was specifically not used on war criminals. History: DR. Jose Rizal was convicted of sedition and sentenced to death by firing squad. The most recent execution by this method was that of John Albert Taylor. By his own choosing, Taylor was executed by firing squad in Utah on January 26, 1996. Overview: The inmate is typically bound to a chair with leather straps across his waist and head, in front of an oval-shaped canvas wall. The chair is surrounded by sandbags to absorb the inmate's blood. A black hood is pulled over the inmate's head. A doctor locates the inmate's heart with a stethoscope and pins a circular white cloth target over it. Standing in an enclosure 20 feet away, five shooters are
armed with .30 caliber rifles loaded with single rounds. One of the shooters is given blank rounds. Each of the shooters aims his rifle through a slot in the canvas and fires at the inmate. The prisoner dies as a result of blood loss caused by rupture of the heart or a large blood vessel, or tearing of the lungs. F. Electrocution History: The electric chair was invented by Harold P. Brown who was employed by Thomas Edison for the sole purpose of investigating the uses of electricity for execution. Brown, a dentist used to working with people in chairs, used a chair design for his device. The chair was first adopted in 1889 and the first execution took place in 1890 in New York. Overview: In execution by electric chair, the prisoner is strapped to the chair with metal straps and a wet sponge is placed in his head to aid conductivity. Electrodes are placed on the head and leg to create a closed circuit. Depending on the physical state of the prisoner, two currents of varying level and duration are applied. This is generally 2,000 volts for 15 seconds for the first current to cause unconsciousness and to stop the heart. The second current is usually lowered to 8 amps. The current will normally cause severe damage to internal organs and the body can heat up to 138 F (59 C). The post-execution cleanup is an unpleasant task as skin can melt to the electrodes and the person often loses control over bodily functions. The skin is also often burnt. G. GAS CHAMBER History: The gas chamber has been used for executions for a considerable number of years. It has gained the most notoriety from its use in the German prison camps during World War II where it was used to exterminate millions of people in one of the worst cases of genocide in the 20th century. Cyanide gas (Zyklon B) was Nazi Germany's primary means of mass murder during the Holocaust, as it could be used to kill as many as 2,500 people at once. Overview: The prisoner is strapped to a chair inside a sealed gas chamber. The executioner (standing outside of the chamber) pulls a lever dropping potassium cyanide pellets into a vat of sulfuric acid, flooding the chamber with lethal hydrogen cyanide gas. Death from hydrogen cyanide is painful and unpleasant. H. LETHAL INJECTION History: In 1982, the United States became the first country on Earth to perform executions by lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. China became the second in 1997, and several other countries have since followed suit. Lethal injection is by far the most common type of execution in the United States--all executions in 2005, and all but one execution each in 2004 and 2006, were by lethal injection. Nazi Germany used lethal injection as part of its T-4 Euthanasia Program as early as 1940, though it was later replaced by poison gas. Overview: The drugs can be delivered by a machine, but due to the fear of mechanical failure. The drugs are then administered in the following order:
1. Sodium thiopental: (Pentathol) it is a barbiturate used as a surgical anesthetic. From this point on if the prisoner is still alive, the person should feel nothing. 2. Pancuronium bromide: (Pavulon), this is a muscle relaxant given in a strong enough dose to paralyse the diaphragm and lungs. 3. Potassium chloride: This is a toxic agent which induces cardiac arrest. Not all states use this as the first two drugs are sufficient to bring about death.
II.
CLASSIFICATION
AN ACT TO IMPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY ON CERTAIN HEINOUS CRIMES, AMENDING FOR THAT PURPOSE THE REVISED PENAL LAWS, AS AMENDED, OTHER SPECIAL PENAL LAWS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Art. 122. Piracy in general and mutiny on the high seas or in Philippine waters. Art. 123. Qualified piracy. - The penalty of reclusion perpetua to death shall be imposed upon those who commit any of the crimes referred to in the preceding article, under any of the following circumstances: 1. Whenever they have seized a vessel by boarding or firing upon the same; 2. Whenever the pirates have abandoned their victims without means of saving themselves or; 3. Whenever the crime is accompanied by murder, homicide, physical injuries or rape." "Art. 211-A. Qualified Bribery. - If any public officer is entrusted with law enforcement and he refrains from arresting or prosecuting an offender who has committed a crime punishable by reclusion perpetua and/or death in consideration of any offer, promise, gift or present, he shall suffer the penalty for the offense which was not prosecuted. "Art. 246. Parricide. - Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate of illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death." "Art. 248. Murder. - Any person who, not falling within the provisions of Article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua, to death if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances: 1. With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men. 2. In consideration of a price, reward or promise. 3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, or by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin. 4. On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic or other public calamity. 5. With evident premeditation. 6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse." "Art. 255. Infanticide. - The penalty provided for parricide in Article 246 and for murder in Article 248 shall be imposed upon any person who shall kill any child less than three days of age.
10
"Art. 267. Kidnapping and serious illegal detention. - Any private individual who shall kidnap or detain another, or in any other manner deprive him of his liberty, shall suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death: 1. If the kidnapping or detention shall have lasted more than three days. 2. If it shall have been committed simulating public authority. 3. If any serious physical injuries shall have been inflicted upon the person kidnapped or detained; or if threats to kill him shall have been made. 4. If the person kidnapped or detained shall be a minor, except when the accused is any of the parents, female or a public officer. The penalty shall be death penalty where the kidnapping or detention was committed for the purpose of extorting ransom from the victim or any other person, even if none of the circumstances above-mentioned were present in the commission of the offense. When the victim is killed or dies as a consequence of the detention or is raped, or is subjected to torture or dehumanizing acts, the maximum penalty shall be imposed." "Art. 294. Robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons - Penalties. Any person guilty of robbery with the use of violence against or intimidation of any person shall suffer: 1. The penalty of reclusion perpetua to death, when by reason or on occasion of the robbery, the crime of homicide shall have been committed, or when the robbery shall have been accompanied by rape or intentional mutilation or arson. "Art. 320. Destructive Arson. - The penalty of reclusion perpetua to death shall be imposed upon any person who shall burn: 1. One (1) or more buildings or edifices, consequent to one single act of burning, or as a result of simultaneous burnings, committed on several or different occasions. 2. Any building of public or private ownership, devoted to the public in general or where people usually gather or congregate for a definite purpose such as, but not limited to, official governmental function or business, private transaction, commerce, trade, workshop, meetings and conferences, or merely incidental to a definite purpose such as but not limited to hotels, motels, transient dwellings, public conveyances or stops or terminals, regardless of whether the offender had knowledge that there are persons in said building or edifice at the time it is set on fire and regardless also of whether the building is actually inhabited or not. 3. Any train or locomotive, ship or vessel, airship or airplane, devoted to transportation or conveyance, or for public use, entertainment or leisure. 4. Any building, factory, warehouse installation and any thereto, which are devoted to the service of public utilities. appurtenances
5. Any building the burning of which is for the purpose of concealing or destroying evidence of another violation of law, or for the purpose of concealing bankruptcy or defrauding creditors or to collect from insurance.
11
The penalty of reclusion perpetua to death shall also be imposed upon any person who shall burn: 1. Any arsenal, shipyard, storehouse or military powder or fireworks factory, ordnance, storehouse, archives or general museum of the Government. 2. In an inhabited explosive materials. place, any storehouse or factory of inflammable or
If as a consequence of the commission of any of the acts penalized under this Article, death results, the mandatory penalty of death shall be imposed." "Art. 335. When and how rape is committed. - Rape is committed by having carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances: 1. By using force or intimidation; 2. When the woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; and 3. When the woman is under twelve years of age or is demented. The crime of rape shall be punished by reclusion perpetua. Whenever the crime of rape is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or by two or more persons, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death. When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has become insane, the penalty shall be death. When the rape is attempted or frustrated and a homicide is committed by reason or on the occasion thereof, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death. When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, a homicide is committed, the penalty shall be death. The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the following attendant circumstances: 1. When the victim is under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender is a parent, ascendant, step-parent, guardian, relative by consanguinity or affinity within the third civil degree, or the common-law-spouse of the parent of the victim. 2. When the authorities. victim is under the custody of the police or military
3. When the rape is committed in full view of the husband, parent, any of the children or other relatives within the third degree of consanguinity. 4. When the victim is a religious or a child below seven (7) years old. 5. When the offender knows that Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) disease. he is afflicted with Acquired Immune
6. When committed by any member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police or any law enforcement agency.
12
7. When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has suffered permanent physical mutilation." "Sec. 2. Definition of the Crime of Plunder; Penalties. - Any public officer who, by himself or in connivance with members of his family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt criminal acts as described in Section 1 (d) hereof in the aggregate amount or total value of at least Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000.00) shall be guilty of the crime of plunder and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua to death. Section 13. Sections 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9, of Article II of Republic Act No. 6425, as amended, known as the Dangerous Drugs Act 1972, are hereby amended to read as follows: "Sec. 3. Importation of Prohibited Drugs. "Sec. 4. Sale, Administration, Prohibited Drugs. Delivery, Distribution and Transportation of
"Sec. 5. Maintenance of a Den, Dive or Resort for Prohibited Drug Users. "Sec. 7. Manufacture of Prohibited Drug. "Sec. 8. Possession or Use of Prohibited Drugs. "Sec. 9. Cultivation of Plants which are Sources of Prohibited Drugs. Section 14. Sections 14, 14-A, and 15 of Article III of Republic Act No. 6425, as amended, known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, are hereby amended to read as follows: "Sec. 14. Importation of Regulated Drugs. "Sec. 14-A. Manufacture of Regulated Drugs.
13
III. MORAL ISSUES Some Catholics maintain that the death penalty, like abortion and euthanasia, is a violation of the right to life and an unauthorized usurpation by human beings of God's sole lordship over life and death. The main moral issue presented by this research is that of killing someone being a moral and justifiable act or not, bearing in mind the crimes of that person. Of course, killing is innately bad in most cultures, with Christianity being one of them, but, is sparing a person whos committed an act that is deemed punishable by death really the right thing to do? This is the question that this research aims to answer. Capital punishment was a significant feature in the justice system of Old Testament Israel. Execution was called for in response to extreme civil crimes like murder and rape, as well as for offenses against Gods holiness, l ike false prophecy and witchcraft. There were mechanisms in place to avert the death penalty in some situations, and God sometimes spared the lives of people whose actions, legally speaking, would have otherwise meant the death penalty. The establishment of capital punishment in ancient Israel is often used to argue for the death penalty in modern timesand it seems reasonable to conclude that since God incorporated it into Israelite society, capital punishment is not antithetical to His nature. Genesis 9:6 suggests that this sense Creation: Whoever sheds mans blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image. Genesis 9:6 Christians are well aware of the atoning power of blood, believing that Christs blood shed at his execution on the crossspares us from the spiritual death penalty that our sins would otherwise merit. When applying these principles to our modern system of justice, however, we should be aware of the different context we live in. Ancient Israelite society was unique in that it was a true theocracyGod Himself crafted its laws. God clearly has the authority to save or condemn human lives, but does that authority still exist in a democratic government devised by fallible men and women? The New Testament adds important context to the topic but doesnt clearly instruct us one way or the other regarding the death penalty. The apostle Paul acknowledges that wielding the sword is a legitimate exercise of government authority presumably he is referring to its duty to punish criminals, with violence if necessary. On the other hand, many of Jesus actions and words, such as his foiling of the execution of the adulterous woman, suggest that mercy and humility should stay societys killing hand. And of course, no Christian is unaware of Jesus own experience with capital punishment: he was the ultimate innocent victim of the governments sword wielded unjustly. Because the New Testaments gospel of grace is held to have fulfilled the Old Testament law, it is worth questioning whether Old Testament capital punishment a powerful enforcer of that lawis a tool we should use today or whether it was appropriate only within the context of the Old Testament covenant. An over-arching theme of the New Testament is the undeserved forgiveness extended to us by a merciful God. As recipients of Gods grace, we are called to extend grace to others as well. How do we reconcile the need for justice with the importance of mercy and forgiveness? Do the requirements of justice trump the opportunity for mercy, or vice versa? of justice is woven into the moral fabric of
14
IV. CONCLUSION AND REFLECTION The purposes of criminal punishment are rather unanimously delineated in the Catholic tradition. Punishment is held to have a variety of ends that may conveniently be reduced to the following four: rehabilitation, defense against the criminal, deterrence, and retribution. In conclusion, we think that the death penalty should not ever be used, not even considered, to be used as a form of punishment here in our country, and let us tell you why. Well first and foremost, we live in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country; we believe in the teachings of Christianity and those that are in the Holy Bible, in particular; therefore we must live by these teachings. We know about the Ten Commandments, laws given to us by God himself for his followers to live their lives by, and one of those Ten Commandments given to us by God is that we should not kill, period. No excuses. In addition to the Ten Commandments, we must also consider Jesus beliefs on the matter. Let us recall the story of Jesus in John 7:53--8:11 of the Bible wherein Jesus encounters a woman who is about to be stoned in public from committing adultery. In the story, Jesus comes to the womans defense and rebukes the people who were about to stone the woman, telling them that whoever among the people has never sinned should throw a rock at the woman; the people, then realizing that they dont have the right to punish the woman, bearing in mind their own sinfulness, leave, putting an end to the proposed stoning of the woman. We think that we should follow this belief that doling out punishment, especially that of death, isnt in our hands, but in our Gods hands. Another teaching of Jesus that we can use to support our argument is that of the Golden Rule. Jesus told us that we shouldnt do to others what we dont want done unto us. So, we shouldnt go around killing people in the guise of serving justice, because it is not just, if the Golden Rule is any indication. And if anyone might say The criminal should have thought of that before he did what he did, we say that we are not Gods, here to enforce the Golden Rule after it has been violated, rather, we should be models to these people, by showing them mercy for their wrongdoings, and exemplifying the Golden Rule by not killing.
15