3. Just and Merciful Punishments
World Scripture
Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him treacherously, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
Exodus 21.12-14
A sovereign should not inflict excessive punishment.
Matsya Purana 220.10 (Hinduism)
The superior man gives careful thought to his judgments and is tardy in sentencing people to death.
I Ching 61 (Confucianism)
O you who believe! Equal recompense is prescribed for you in cases of murder: a freeman for a freeman, a slave for a slave, a woman for a woman.18 But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand and compensate him with handsome gratitude. This is a concession and a mercy from your Lord.
Qur’an 2.178
Should I [Imam Ali] be killed, see that there is no widespread retaliation. Do not roam about with a drawn sword… and do not start a massacre of my opponents and enemies. See that only one man, that is my murderer, is killed in punishment for the crime of murder, and that nobody else is molested or harmed or harassed. The punishment to the man who attempted the murder shall take place only when I die of the wound delivered by him, and this punishment shall be only one stroke of the sword to end his life. He should not be tortured before his death; his hands and feet should not be cut off, because I have heard the Holy Prophet saying, “Do not cut off the hands and feet of anybody, even a biting dog.”
Nahjul Balagha, Letter 47 (Shiite Islam)
O king, through compassion you should always
Generate an attitude of help
Even for those embodied beings
Who have committed appalling sins.
Especially generate compassion
For those murderers, whose sins are horrible;
Those of fallen nature are receptacles
Of compassion from those whose nature is great.
Free the weaker prisoners
After a day or five days;
Do not think the others
Are never to be freed…
As long as the prisoners are not freed,
They should be made comfortable
With barbers, baths, food, drink,
Medicine and clothing.
Just as unworthy sons are punished
Out of a wish to make them worthy,
So punishment should be enforced with compassion
And not through hatred or desire for wealth.
Once you have analyzed the angry
Murderers and recognized them well,
You should banish them without
Killing or tormenting them.
Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 331-37 (Buddhism)
Human punishment is execrable even when just.
Pope Sixtus (Christianity)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
When the state executes someone who committed a capital crime, it is not thereby guilty of the crime of killing a human being. Why not? The government carried out the execution under public statutes enacted for the benefit of society. Being sanctioned by laws that were enacted to benefit the nation and the world, the execution may be justified.
(88:298, October 3, 1976)
I envision the day when all nations are united under a world government like the United Nations and agree on a world standard of law. A person who commits a crime will receive swift punishment; he or she will be sent away to a facility near the North Pole or the South Pole. There convicts are quarantined like patients with leprosy or SARS and provided with food to last only one year. In that hellish environment they are trained to survive; and through suffering hardships they are educated in the heavenly way. That education elevates their character and restores them to people who will abide by the law for the rest of their lives.19
(May 17, 2003)
The American legal system has a provision for criminals to be pardoned. How about in the ideal universal legal system: can a convicted criminal receive pardon? Yes it is possible, but to be entitled to receive it, he should sacrifice and serve. In that case the law shows mercy, and the person can make a new start down the path of a reformed life.
(105:92, September 30, 1979)