The Death penalty from a spiritist perspective 

When men become more enlightened, the death penalty
will be completely abolished from Earth 

In 399 b.c., the philosopher Socrates, accused of “disrespecting the Gods of the city” and of “corrupting the youth”, was condemned by the Athenians to drink cicuta. The Code of Hamurabi, in Babylon, established that the architect who built a house without strength and this house came to fall down, thus provoking the death of its owner, should die. In ancient Rome, prior to the time of Julius Caesar, besides some other miseries, the death penalty was carried out by decapitation or strangulation. The Hebrews preferred decapitation – for them, the guilt of a crime was in the head.

From 1231, the Vatican Inquisition started to disseminate a terrible repressive system of condemnation. The “Holy Office” was instituted in order to ensure the integrity of the dogmas of the Catholic Church and to rule the inner workings of the church. Its basis of influence became broader and spread throughout the European kingdoms. In the case of heresy, the accused was condemned to death by the Church and executed by the State apparatus. In this way, the Church “did not dirty its hands” with blood and the Government authorities fulfilled a religious duty.

In a world convulsed by ever more cruel and merciless acts of urban violence and terrorism, the debate about the death penalty is always being raised. This debate refers us to the question of do we know if it is morally or legally lawful for the State to kill in order to punish as a form of legal process.

The first thinker to write against the idea of the death penalty was the Italian lawyer/jurist Cesare Bonesana (picture), the Marquis of Beccaria (1738-94). His forerunners only questioned the excesses, but not the legitimacy of the death penalty. This was the great innovation of his small book entitled “From the offenses and from the Penalties”, which pointed out the criticisms of the old punishment regime, establishing assumptions which served as basis for the edition of the codes of modern times.

To think that the death penalty will stop the
criminal is a ludicrous mistake

Before the Illuminist movement the majority of legislators followed a Draconian line recommending: “the death penalty was fair for minor offences, but for more serious crimes, a higher penalty unfortunately has not yet been found”.

The death penalty – or legalised homicide – is one of the possible penalties which the State has at its disposal as a detainer of the monopoly of strength and of several ways of exercising the law. However, the State has alternative penalties and therefore, is not obliged to kill to apply the law. To analyse whether the death penalty must be imposed, because is more intimidating than another corrective measure, is a fallacy. One can only observe the high levels of crimes in North American states which adopt this practice. The weakness of this argument lies in the fact that no safe evidence of the deterrent force of the death penalty has been obtained. To think that the death penalty will stop the criminal is a ludicrous mistake. The criminal does not think about his failure!  So even, without his mad plans, the juridical consequences of his acts are never considered. In truth, the delinquent never admits his possible failure! According to his thoughts, the success will be his and never the law’s!...

We shall then reflect that the execution of the death penalty makes juridical mistakes irreparable. There is not a treatise on the death penalty which does not cite examples of proof of innocence of the supposed culprit being discovered after the execution of the defendant. For this reason, many have affirmed that it is best that one criminal is saved than to allow one innocent to die. In the USA, hundred of erroneous condemnations and several executed people have been registered, and others will rot in prison. In 1989, a tribunal in Tokyo declared the innocence of Masao Akabori who had been condemned to death for the assassination of a child; and who had been in prison since 1954. The confession which supported the sentence was taken during tortures suffered at the hands of policemen.  After 12.600 days (34 years) waiting for his hanging, Masao was freed with the expectation of receiving compensation from the Japanese government of almost one million US dollars.

We must remember that God always reserves
a place for mercy

For ethical precautions, in the Western world there have been arguments for the death penalty to be quicker, more hygienic and pain-free. The methods so far invented are: guillotine (1792), electric chair (1889), gas chamber (1923) and , more recently, lethal injection which came about in 1977. In this sense, one can affirm that in matter of “gentle” executions, we have entered the “era of the lethal injection”, adopted nowadays by several American states. An edition of the magazine entitled “Isto e”, of 3^rd March 1999, has published that in Texas (USA), in February 1999, a jury condemned the racist John William King to the death penalty by lethal injection. Mr. King was condemned for having killed, with extreme perversity, the black man James Byrd Jr., by dragging him along the tarmac whilst tied to his truck.

From the finding that “violence generates violence”, any stronger rationale in favour of the death penalty is unacceptable, even in the face of horrendous crimes. Today, more than ever, social peace is also coupled to the cessation of this system. The abolition of the death penalty is only a small beginning but it will cause a great impression in practice and in the actual conception of the codes of justice of the power (over life and death) of the State.

We must remember that God always reserve a place for mercy. There is no logic in killing a human being by the death penalty. That way, we will be acting exactly as the criminals who have killed in order to receive this penalty.

According to an Amnesty International Report on the 5.000 executions carried in 1996 amongst the countries that adopt the death penalty; 93% of the punishments occur in only four countries: China, Ukraine, Russia and Iran. China is the record holder by far. It has executed by firing squad, 4.400 people (85% of the worldwide total).

In February 1993, The Datafolha Institute of Research found out that in 122 Brazilian counties, 55% of the population were in favour of the death penalty and 38% against. However this research was under the impact of two crimes of great repercussions: the assassination of the actress Daniela Perez in Rio de Janeiro, and of the girl Miriam Brandao, in Belo Horizonte. The two crimes took the country to a limit-situation, even more because the same research carried out by the same institute seventeen months earlier, showed different numbers: 46% in favour of death penalty and 43% against it.

In a still distant time the death penalty will be
abolished from Earth

The Constitution protects citizens from the whims of the majority which is often marked by passionate irrationality. That is because, when more violent crimes occur, the arsenal of the media is triggered in order to polarize the subject. In the context of these circumstances, the death penalty always seems as a miraculous solution. This belief is painted with such vibrant colours to the point that the population to is lead to believe in the validity of this moral scourge, which should strictly be kept in the time of the Hominids. Thus, we must ponder that to propose the extinction of marginalised crime by legalised crime is to demonstrate profound irrationality.

A longer segregation could be implanted in Brazil; perhaps life imprisonment for some types of crime.  Unfortunately, from the 50 North- American states, 38 practice the death penalty and about 70% of the American population declare themselves in favour of the death penalty. The Spiritual Benefactors, however, affirm in the 760 question of “The Spirits’ Book”,that “the death penalty will disappear and its suppression will mark a progress on the part of the human race”.   “When men are more enlightened, the death penalty will be completely abolished throughout the Earth. Men will no longer require to be judged by men. I speak of a time which is still a long way ahead of you”.

The Universe is moved by God’s love and, in His Creation, the Celestial Father established Laws that govern the destinies. For us, the model of life is Jesus Christ! He has taught us Forgiveness and to Love the Neighbour, as a guide for peace and justice for all men.

Sources:

“Isto e”  Magazine ,Number 1535, edition 03/03/1999

Correio Braziliense Newspaper, Edition 12/08/1998

Newspaper of Brasilia, Edition 23/09/1998

Folha de São Paulo Newspaper, Edition 26/05/1998

The Spiritist Magazine/ DF Edition July/September 1997

Kardec Allan, The Spirits’ Book, RJ: Ed: February 1997, question 760

Carvalho Filho Luiz Francisco. What  is the Death Penalty , São Paulo: Ed. Brasiliense, 1995