Q&A: The Death Penalty for Murderers
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
The Death Penalty for Murderers
Question
Hello Rabbi,
What is your opinion regarding the death penalty for murderers?
Does society have the right, by virtue of being a system of agreed-upon laws, to decide to kill lawfully?
And in general, what is the meaning of carrying out "justice" with such a person, since his crime did not only cause harm on our plane, but the victim's life was taken—so this is not a crime only on the human plane, at some level?
Answer
I don’t think the question is society’s right, but the substantive justification. I didn’t understand the last sentence.
Discussion on Answer
I’m somewhat uneasy about handing justice over to the government (especially justice carried out through irreversible steps like killing). Better that they focus on instrumental action, and leave judgment to God.
Hypothetically, suppose that in some case there is no instrumental justification for punishment (the punishment will not prevent any future harm), and the only consideration left is doing justice to the criminal. In such a case, is it proper to punish?
I once thought that were it not for the fact that we were commanded about murder, there would be no justification for punishing murderers where there is no instrumental consideration. Now that we were commanded about murder, we function as an extended arm of the Holy One, blessed be He, in carrying out justice against the murderer (assuming, of course, that this is an authorized legal institution of society).