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What is your view on the death penalty. Approve or disapprove?

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Thank you for sharing  your passionate view point, Green! I respect and honor that.

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a piece of news to refresh you;

Vizconde murder case exemplifies state of justice system
Filed on December 26, 1999
By Raissa Robles

The life conviction yesterday of an ex-lawmaker’s son and five others from prominent families reflects the true state of the justice system.

It grinds exceedingly long when the accused are rich and powerful, but quite fast when they are poor.

Some 955 Filipinos have been convicted to death for crimes they have committed starting 1994 when capital punishment was restored. The bulk of them are poor, anti-death penalty advocates said.

In contrast, suspects in the massacre of the Vizconde family took three presidential administrations to convict and even now, their powerful families are talking of hammering the Supreme Court for a new trial.

In the seven recent executions by lethal injection, three of those put to death for the crime of rape did not kill their victims.

In contrast, ex-Senator Freddie Webb’s son, Hubert, and his friends not only murdered Estrellita Vizconde, 47, her daughters Carmela, 18 and Jennifer, 7, by stabbing them repeatedly, they also took turns raping Carmela, Paranaque Regional Trial Court Judge Amelita Tolentino said in her verdict yesterday which took four and a half hours to read out.

The crime took place in the early morning hours of June 30, 1991 but the convicts were arrested only in 1995 because Hubert Webb, “besides being rich and influential, had a father who was a congressman and later a senator of the Republic,” Judge Tolentino said.

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For a long time I was a supporter of capital punishment. It was a recent epiphany that I had that made me relinquish my previous support for capital punishment. It happened during a conversation with a friend , who also was an advocate of capital punishment, and during the dialogue, he remarked, "those people in death row don't deserve life, but deserve death, i say kill them all..."

At first I agreed with him, but after a while, as he was talking about specific examples of the need to curve crime rates, I kept on thinking about what he said , "those people in death row don't deserve life..". In my mind i kept on asking the same rhetorical question, "but who are we to decide who deserves to live or die?"

At first, i was taken back. Here I was, a person who believes in the sanctity of human life , an advocate of fetal life, and a strong advocate of the rights of the unborn (as i am against abortion), but was at the same time supporting death penalty. Something didn't click.

That night, I sat down by my bedside table and opened the Holy Bible. I literally searched the scriptures that night in regards to what is said about life, and death, and there was one verse that I found that really touched me and I trust that it was the Holy Spirit who was guiding me to this verse, since I felt a spiritual awakening earlier that day -- on the notion of capital punishment.

The verse that I found was in Hebrews Chapter 10 verses 26 to 31:-


26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So thus the answer that I was searching for was given to me. Vengeance is the Lord's, not ours. It was then that I became an opponent of the death penalty.



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Addendum:

I was also reminded that night of one of the Ten Commandments that God told Moses, "Thou Shall Not Kill..."

When Jesus was walking in the streets, he saw that the hebrews were about to stone a woman, Mary Magdalene, for the crime of adultery. The Jews were practicing their prophetic mandate of stoning an adulteress, as it was custom and requirement of the Law. However, Jesus told them, "which among you have not sinned? If any among you have not sinned, then you may cast the first stone..." Pero, all the Jews with rocks did sin. So it nullified the Law that they were trying to implement.

Ang meaning ani, to me, is that no man is fit to judge who should live or die. Since it is up to the Living God to give recompense according to what we did and according to the life of faith one in this life practiced.

By rescuing the woman, Mary Magdalene, from her would-be-killers, Christ directly tells us that death penalty is wrong. Even if the Law requires it. Afterall, Jesus Christ superceded the Law.




Jesus asked Mary Magdalene, "where are your accusers, my daughter?"

Shocked, Mary responded, "They are gone, Lord.."

Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Now, go, sin no more..."

Beautiful Merciful Savior...


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Simbako, Manay. Pero, as a clinician, i know the importance of psychological trauma and especially on the minds of adolescents who have not yet developed (physically and mentally). I am a firm supporter of behavioral institutions , which are run by the state, in order to correct any abberation in children who have questionable guardians , or who fail in raising the children accordingly and fail to provide a stable home, and a stable psychological environment. It is unfortunate that many of the ones commiting the same crime grow up into adults and perpetuate the same thing over and over again. However, theirs is a product of environmental conditioning and stagnation. That is all they know.

Hypothetically speaking, Manay, if ever my child were killed by someone, of course i would be devastated by the catastrophe. But if we believe in God and the resurrection of the soul, then we trust that our loved one will be raised in Glory, and enjoy the first fruits of salvation in Christ Jesus. It is not up to me to decide death to a person. And i believe that the state should not be condoning death as well.

We all have the right to change, and the right to live, even the murderers. In the end, these people also have lives. I leave vengeance and the dispelling of vengeance to God , alone.

As one who believes in the sanctity of human life, and a firm believer of the rights of the unborn, all human life is precious to God. Whether they be fetus, to the mentally retarded, to the dying, and even those who are killers. In my opinion, if we kill them, we become no better than them.

Thanks for the very question. God Bless!

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