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People don't suffer when they get put to death. Its more reasonable if they just get life in a maximum security prison.

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You probably have heard them too, Right-wing US Jews and Gentiles who defend Capital Punishment because it's in the Torah. What more proof does a Monotheist need to approve of the death penalty?

Comes Pope Francis and he declares taking a life for a life outside of Roman Catholic Halachah. What a heathen, no? Well, not so quick, please.

The Sages warn us not to use the Torah to further our goals (Saying of the Fathers (which is Mishnah, the forerunner to the Talmud) 4:7). This is so deep! The Torah comes to change us. It is not a tool by which we effectuate change to our liking.

The Sages had a very deep understanding of Scripture. Every sentence, word, letter, unwritten vowel marking has endlessly deep value and meaning. Just reading the words out of the Sages' context, is a violation of the elevated holy text itself.

(You dislike the way the Sages took it? Well, that's too bad because the same Sages delivered to us unanimously the very words and punctuation of Scripture. How could you go by their meticulous delivery but disavow their careful reading? Either you consider their voice worthless (and in one go, reject all they brought to us) or you must be willing to read Scripture in context - the context they provided. That's called integrity. The opposite of pragmatism: just (ab)using things the way they suit you.)

The Sages clearly teach that the death penalty had to be administered under such stringent conditions that it was almost impossible to get to a conviction, especially if the suspect would not cooperate. The Sages called a holy rabbinic court that would convict someone to death more often than once in seven years a bunch of murderers, no less! And there is an opinion there that they would be assassins if they convicted more frequently than once in 70 years - which is once in a lifetime.

But why does the Torah so often call crimes capital if punishment is almost impossible to be effectuated? Let me give you a number of answers.

The severity of the punishment gives away the severity of the sin. But that can also become clear without ever executing someone.

It also shows that this is important to learn. Learning how wrong certain behavior is, changes a person - the whole goal of the Torah.

We don't need to worry when a rabbinic court cannot get to enough proof. The Heavenly Court sits too and makes that no one escapes their due.

Humans make too many mistakes and an unjustly administered death penalty is kind of irreversible.

The rabbinic judges should be eager to find reasons not to convict. Having to sentence someone to death is terrible. However, we do not decide what to judge - G^d does. It's a terrible obligation put on us - but we are also obligated to try and prevent it.

The main purpose of the death penalty was deterrence. When capital cases became very frequent, 2000 years ago, the Sages abolished executions for two reasons. A. The great number made it questionable if it was still possible to provide the great care that was needed for judging such affairs and not get to faulty convictions. B. Life was not seen as so valuable anymore (hence the number of murders) and so, execution would not deter.

Research shows that almost never, perpetrators considered the gravity of punishment before committing a crime. Either they assumed completely naively that they will certainly escape detection or conviction or they didn't even think about consequences before they did something really bad. The Sages tell us why people do things that are really terrible. Not because they are bad but rather: in a cloud of folly. If one would think straight for a moment, one would not commit evil. In other words: punishment does not deter - one's brain is switched off.

In the US, prisoners convicted to death are on "death row" often for decades. Their successful appeal depends on money and luck - and often the frivolous judgment of one politician. This is so below the carefulness that Torah's capital punishment demands. Torah convicts are treated with the utmost respect. They are pressured to repent before death so that they will have a good afterlife. (Forget about revenge.) They are executed immediately, so that they don't suffer too long over their impending death.

Most of them are Afro-American men - the effect of racism stares you in the face. (Only racists would hold that Black USers are inherently more murderous.) How could one rime racism with the messages of the Torah?!

With the above knowledge, there is no Biblical permission now to administer the death penalty.

The Pope reasoned that judicial killing violates human dignity.

If anything, it teaches that life is cheap - and its proponents revengeful. If one wants to teach the sanctity of life, a murderer gets to live with his crime and enough time to start regretting and feeling that s/he needs to make up and pay for it the rest of his life and it still won't be enough.

Punishment is good in that it gives a clear message that we as society disprove strongly about certain behavior. It can also cleanse the perpetrators - s/he pays for their crime and after that should be allowed to be a better person and have all profit from that. (In The Netherlands, endless incarceration is also almost unheard of as it reasons that rehabilitation when possible should be done - except in exceptional cases of really dangerous criminals.) To kill heinous people is not constructive. It would help to let them teach about their repentance, or show everyone how almost impossible it is to come back from murder.

I won't say anything bad to family members of people murdered who demand the death penalty. Which doesn't mean that I should agree with them. I hope to never be in their place. It's not on my path to condemn them. But I won't agree.

In general, we must stop (ab)using the Torah to defend the indefensible.

We still should stop a would-be murderer "dead" in his tracks and kill him if that's the only way to prevent the slaying. But once a murder is done, let's not make matters even worse. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Get the integrity to admit if you were wrong. Yom Kippur is coming. That's when all our lives hang in the balance. Do you want to strengthen the value of human life? Choose life and repent. Shanova umetuka!

Earlier, I blogged: 15 reasons why Israel should not have the death penalty for terrorists, 'Thou Shalt Not Murder' and the Jews and last but not least: Bill Cosby's conviction and the dichotomy of Good and Evil people.

The author is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (DES - Diethylstilbestrol), born in 1953 to two Dutch Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork, and holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam). He taught Re-evaluation Co-counseling, became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a vegan for 8 years now. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are: his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach and lehavdiel bein chayim lechayim: Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo and Rav Zev Leff. * Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years he wrote hasbara for the Dutch public. His fields of attention now are varied: Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science, Politics (Israel, the US and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight Truth), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, GLBTQAI, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), Ecology and Veganism. Many people can't understand or like him because he has such a wide vision that he never fits any specialist's box. But that exactly what others love about him. Many of his posts relate to affairs from the news or the Torah Portion of the Week or are new insights that suddenly befell him. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, reassure the doubters but make the self-assured doubt more. He strives to bring a fresh perspective rather than bore you with the obvious. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds must be disputed. In short, his main political positions are: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, democracy, anti the fake peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, Science, Free Will, anti blaming-the-victim and for down-to-earth optimism. Read his blog how he attempts to bridge any discrepancies. He admits sometimes exaggerating to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quit a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. November 13, 2018, he published his 500st blog post with the ToI. * He likes doing age-appropriate and age-inappropriate things and looks forward to getting to know his timeless mature out-of-the-box soul mate. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me.

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On Capital Punishment and being more Jewish than the Pope

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You probably have heard them too, Right-wing US Jews and Gentiles who defend Capital Punishment because it's in the Torah. What more proof does a Monotheist need to approve of the death penalty? Comes Pope Francis and he declares taking a life for a life outside of Roman Catholic Halachah.

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Capital punishment is not utilized in all fifty states. 30 states still use the death penalty but some criminals get a choice

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Oklahoma is the only state that you have a choice of firing squad for your death. Death Row inmates from Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia can choose electrocution. Lethal Gas in Arizona and California and firing squad in Utah

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If you had the choice for life in prison to be executed almost everybody would choose to be executed. Nobody wanks to die but nobody wants to spend life in prison either.

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On February 14th, 2018, Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Now Florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if Cruz is found guilty.

Today on The Mike Pintek Show, Rob Pratte is hosting the show from Kuhn's Market on McKnight Rd for Fish Fry Friday and is talking about some pretty serious stuff, the death penalty.

Rob Pratte believes that if someone kills someone or a group of people they should be punished, and he feels that punishment should be the death penalty. Rob told listener, "You cannot kill this many people and expect to be around 40 more years on this planet after destroying lives and generations." Rob is sick of waking up every day and hearing about another tragedy, he feels a change needs to be made.

Rob took to the phones to see where his listeners stand on the death penalty.

Listen to The Mike Pintek Show weekday's noon-3PM on News Radio 1020 KDKA. Also check out Mike's podcast page if you missed the full show.

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Are You For or Against The Death Penalty?

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On February 14th, 2018, Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Now Florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if Cruz is found guilty. Today on The Mike Pintek Show, Rob Pratte is hosting the show from Kuhn's Market on McKnight Rd for Fish Fry Friday and is talking about some pretty serious stuff, the death penalty.

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Lethal injection is the most common way of execution because of how simple it is. All they have to do is stick a needle into your bloodstream and wait, you even get to say your last words.

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In April 2017 officials in Arkansas came under criticism for expediting a series of eight executions by lethal injection before the state's supply of available drugs reached their expiration date. Critics accused Arkansas officials of carrying out executions in an "assembly line" fashion, and drug companies also objected to the state's use of a pharmaceutical formulation in lethal injections.

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The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished

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Criminal Justice, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http%3A%2F%2Flink.galegroup.com%2Fapps%2Fdoc%2FEJ3010120283%2FOVIC%3Fu%3Dpl2683%26sid%3DOVIC%26xid%3D33df4001. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019. Originally published as "The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives," vol. 271, 2007.

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Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http%3A%2F%2Flink.galegroup.com%2Fapps%2Fdoc%2FYRZPLH255915787%2FOVIC%3Fu%3Dpl2683%26sid%3DOVIC%26xid%3D45f353ca. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019. Originally published as "How Should Society Punish a Murder?" The New Republic, 30 Mar. 2018.

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Oklahoma is the only state that allows more than 2 choices of executions. Oklahoma offers a choice between Lethal Injection, electrocution, and firing squad.

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oklahoma choices for death penalty - Google Search

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Trevor McDonald was interviewed to see what an inmate on Death Row was feeling and what they found was surprising. Trevor has killed multiple people in a variety of ways and he has "no remorse" as he says in the interview.

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death row inmates interviews - Yahoo Video Search Results

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The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

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Every inmate on Death Row gets to choose they're final meal. Lawrence Russell Brewer was the cause of Texas stop giving final meals because he had ordered so much food.

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death row inmates last meals - Yahoo Video Search Results

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The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

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Most people are for the Death Penalty because of the fast that you don't have to suffer all your life in prison. Often times the victims family is for the death penalty because they don't want to see that member of the family rot in jail