Judaism and the Death Penalty A Humanistic Perspective By Ethan Bogard I am very pleased to share with you the results of my major project, Judaism and the Death Penalty- A Humanistic Perspective.

Why Did I Select This Topic? I was a lawyer in a mock trial I love Law and Order One of my core values is justice, and Barry Scheck is my role-model Now you might be wondering why I selected this topic? I wanted to find out more about the death penalty, what the ancient views were, and how they have evolved, or not evolved, over time. So, I began to look at what the Hebrew Bible, said about it. NEXT SLIDE>>>

The Death Penalty in the Jewish Bible: Passages “… then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” (Exodus 21:22) This portion of a verse from Exodus is the most often cited biblical support for the death penalty, especially the part about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. While it was about the death penalty, some scholars say it was more about proportionality in punishment. In other words, the punishment should fit the crime. Actually, I was interested to learn that the eye for an eye concept was originally found in Hammurabi’s Code, long before the Hebrews. NEXT SLIDE>>>

The Death Penalty in the Jewish Bible: Passages “Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death.” (Exodus 21:12) “…Whoever does any work on [the Sabbath] shall be put to death.” (Exodus 35:1) These two quotes are from Exodus. But there are many, many passages from the Bible that certainly support the death penalty. As far as that last one, Moses said it, and my dad needs to pay attention! NEXT SLIDE>>>

The Death Penalty in the Jewish Bible: Capital Crimes Murder Blasphemy Homosexuality Idolatry Adultery Sorcery Bestiality I just mentioned that working on the Sabbath was a capital offense. Here are some others that you might expect, and some that you might not expect to warrant the death penalty NEXT SLIDE>>>>>

The Death Penalty in the Jewish Bible: Trouble for Bar Mitzvah Boys 'A stubborn and rebellious son': when does he become liable to the penalty of a stubborn and rebellious son'? From the time that he produces two hairs until he grows a beard “right round” The Mishnah, which is part of the talmud which I will explain in a minute, says: ‘A stubborn and rebellious son’ etc. OK, OK—I’ll cool it with the rebelliousness! And the girls out there shouldn’t laugh too hard since you too can be included now based on more contemporary versions! Actually, the rabbis say this was rarely enforced because both parents had to agree. If it was like my house, my dad would vote for the punishment and my mom would say we learned our lesson already. For my friends, I’ll explain the “beard right round after the service.”! NEXT SLIDE>>

The Death Penalty in the Jewish Bible: Methods of Punishment Stoning Burning Slaying by the sword Hanging Flagellation There were different methods of execution discussed in the Bible. Stoning seemed to have been very popular. Some argue that stoning actually meant throwing someone off a structure twice their height onto a stone floor, or dropping a stone that only two men can lift onto someone’s chest So the Bible certainly seems to permit the death penalty based on the various passages I found, the listings of capital crimes and the methods of capital punishment.. NEXT SLIDE>>

The Talmud: Making It Really Difficult to Execute The rabbis barred execution unless: At least two eyewitnesses to all parts of the crime testify The eyewitnesses must have warned the offender before he committed his crime that he could get the death penalty if he does it The offender must have acknowledged the warning and done it anyway But, even though the Bible clearly supported the death penalty, the rabbis had a different perspective. The Talmud is the collection of ancient Rabbinic writings written between the 2nd and 5th Centuries in Babylonia. The Talmud has two parts--the Mishnah and the Gemara [guh-mah-ra] , constituting the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism. Basically, the rabbis interpreted the words of the bible, arguing among themselves what the original words actually meant and how they were to be incorporated into Jewish law. As the next few slides will illustrate, the rabbis didn’t follow the biblical words literally and, in fact, found ingenious ways to make it “really, really hard to execute anyone.” For example… NEXT SLIDE>>

The Talmud: Making It Really Difficult to Execute Bearing false witness (lying) in a capital case was a capital crime No one may be executed based upon a unanimous vote This last point is particularly interesting, since today we require a unanimous vote to sentence a person to death. But the rabbis believed that a unanimous vote means that the arguments against death were not seriously considered or somehow the process was rigged. NEXT SLIDE>>

The Talmud: Different Methods of Execution Rabbis were concerned that execution be: as quick as possible as painless as possible cause as little disfigurement as possible preserve the dignity of the condemned Others argue for methods of execution more severe for more heinous crimes Not all quick, painless, dignified E.g. bury in dung and pull cords around neck! Despite all these hoops, the rabbis did seem to describe how the death penalty should be administered. But other rabbis argued that it shouldn’t be so humane, especially for more severe crimes. I don’t know which rabbi came up with burying the criminal in dung and pulling cords around the person’s neck? NEXT SLIDE>>>

The Talmud: Making It Really Hard to Execute Forty years before the fall of Jerusalem, in 70 C.E., the rabbis finally stopped endorsing capital punishment under any circumstances, flatly abolishing it altogether But like all smart people, the thinking of the rabbis evolved over time. By the time the Talmudic rabbis were finished with their interpretations, the vivid death penalty of the bible was basically impossible to carry out One might say that “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”… HAD NO TEETH! NEXT SLIDE>>>

The Death Penalty in Israel Death penalty for crimes against the state only In the history of modern Israel only one death sentence has been carried out: Adolph Eichmann “the architect of the Holocaust” Other death sentences have been imposed but overturned on appeal The Israeli military has forbidden execution by criminal courts in the occupied territories So, this brings us to modern Israel. We can see that the Talmudic law has certainly influenced modern attitudes about how frequently and under what circumstances the death penalty should be imposed. In Israel, the death penalty is reserved for major crimes against the state of Israel. NEXT SLIDE>>

The Death Penalty in the U.S. 1973- Supreme Court rules death penalty laws unconstitutional 1976- Supreme Court announces rules to correct constitutional deficiencies States modify laws and resume executions 1,100 executions since 1976 And now I shift to the death penalty in this country. In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that death penalty laws were unconstitutional because the decisions as to who would receive it and who would not were so arbitrary and inconsistent. But, by 1976 the Court provided guidance as to how to correct these problems and states began modifying their jury procedures accordingly. Since then, there have been more than eleven hundred executions in this country. And the Supreme Court recently ruled that the most used method of lethal injection was not cruel and unusual punishment. NEXT SLIDE>>

The Death Penalty in the U.S.: Changing Public Attitudes More people oppose the death penalty, especially if the alternative is life without parole Concerns about wrongful convictions No clear evidence of deterrence 8 States have suspended the death penalty Despite these Supreme Court rulings, at least 8 states, including New York, have suspended executions in recent years, most because of court decisions about methods of execution and concerns about innocent people being executed. There seem to be changing public attitudes. NEXT SLIDE>>>

The Death Penalty in the U.S.: Errors Made? My answer: “Yes.” 120 death row exonerations since 1973 Mistakenly convicting capital defendants is not uncommon Barry Scheck’s Innocence Project There is growing concern about the danger of mistakes being made. Mr. Scheck’s Innocence project alone has exonerated 14 people who were on death row. I think it is pretty clear that innocent people are being executed. Former Governor Ryan of Illinois halted all executions for that reason. NEXT SLIDE>>

The Death Penalty in the U.S.: Race and Class Biased? Discriminatory against Blacks Economically disadvantaged. Better attorney = Life Cheaper/overworked Attorney= death In Kentucky, “it used to be said that if a Negro killed a white man, it was murder. If a white man killed a Negro, it was unfortunate. If a white man killed a white man, it was self-defense.” Although researchers disagree, it is clear to me that the death penalty is race and class-biased, and that’s unacceptable. For example< although African-Americans make up approximately 10% of the overall population, 50% of all persons executed between 1930 and 1972 were Black. And during that same period, 89% of persons executed for rape were African-American. Clearly, if you have money or are white, you stand a better chance. NEXT SLIDE>>

Humanistic Judaism and the Death Penalty Humanistic Jews believe in: Racial Justice Social Justice Economic Justice Human Reason Scientific Evidence I just spoke about the racial, economic and social justice issues as they affect the death penalty. So, how does this square with Humanistic Judaism? As Humanistic Jews we also believe in the importance of scientific evidence and the discovery of truth and facts. Maimonides [My-mon-a-deez] said, “you must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.” Now if there was scientific proof that the death penalty was a dee-ter-rent and would save lives, that MIGHT provide support for it. And if we could guarantee that the innocent wouldn’t be convicted and executed. But, there isn’t any such evidence and we know about wrongful convictions and the other problems I have discussed. So, where does all this leave me in terms of my views on this controversial issue? NEXT SLIDE>>

The Death Penalty: My View Need for retribution justifies the death penalty 9-11 Oklahoma City bombing Killing of Police and prison officials but… The death penalty discriminates based on race and class The government makes mistakes The rabbis thought the death penalty was OK in theory, but not in practice So they made it very difficult to execute anyone I can certainly see the arguments for the death penalty---- 9-11, Oklahoma City, killing cops and prison officials. I believe that retribution is certainly justifiable for such heinous crimes But, consider all the problems. We need to do a far better job in this country of ensuring that imposition of the death penalty is done in a fair manner, without disproportionally affecting racial minorities or the poor. And, we need to make sure that we get it right …no civilized society should accept the notion of wrongful executions. Until we can meet those criteria, we should be following the example of the ancient rabbis, and make it very, very difficult to use the state’s ultimate penalty.