The Death Penalty is the Wrong Response to Political Violence

The US government should not kill Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin. State-sponsored murder won’t stem the rising tide of political violence looming over all of us. And Utah is one of only five states in the US that allows execution by firing squad. Though rare, the prospect of the state shooting Mr. Robinson to death for the unspeakable act of doing the very same to Mr. Kirk threatens to inflame an already volatile political climate.

We, the more than 4,000 members of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty, therefore urge prosecutors to change course and no longer pursue the death penalty against Mr. Robinson. Let there be no doubt: we are profoundly distressed by the deadly attack of which the state accuses Tyler Robinson. Our hearts and prayers extend to the neshama (soul) of Charlie Kirk, Zichrono Livracha, of blessed memory. May his wife, children, and loved ones be comforted among all the mourners of the world. Many of us in L’chaim disagree with most of Mr. Kirk’s beliefs, including about the death penalty, but it should go without saying that regardless of these facts, we abhor his assassination, just as we do all killings. It is tragic that we must make that abhorrence explicit in a day and age when people are quick to assume the worst about others’ intentions, even those who have no connection to the tragedy. This pattern includes antisemitic conspiracy theories now proliferating that incriminate the Jewish community for complicity in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

A death sentence for Mr. Robinson will only increase his platform for espousing violent hatred. Killing him will not deter any would-be copycats. On the contrary, it would only embolden them, rendering him a martyr for violent extremists on any side of the aisle. This reality is just one of the reasons we oppose the death penalty in all cases, but especially for killers with any socio-political motivations. A lengthy prison sentence would hold him accountable while severely punishing him for his heinous actions.

We follow the guidance of Holocaust survivor and death penalty abolitionist Elie Wiesel, who famously said of capital punishment: “Death is not the answer.” By the end of his life, Wiesel expressed this unconditionally, clearly stating:  “With every cell of my being and with every fiber of my memory, I oppose the death penalty in all forms. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don’t think it’s human to become an agent of the angel of death.” For members of L’chaim, this stance applies universally; there are no exceptions. It encompasses Nazi perpetrators such as Adolf Hitler and Adolf Eichmann, the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023, the infamous Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, the antisemitic murderers of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates, the killer of two human beings at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, and, now, Mr. Robinson in this case.

As with any murder, we never would claim to speak for the victims’ loved ones. I have served as a hospital and community chaplain for years. I regularly counsel mourners that they should be ready to experience the whole gamut of human emotion while grieving, including rage where appropriate and even the inevitable desire for vengeance. Let no one ever judge anyone in such a position. If I ever were to lose a loved one to murder, I could very well find myself desiring—and perhaps even advocating for—the death of my loved one’s killer. A civilized society is responsible for protecting and honoring all such mourners while also upholding the most basic human rights upon which this world stands. Fundamental to these is the right to life. Partly for this reason, more than seventy percent of the world’s nations have abolished the death penalty in law and practice.

While traditional Jewish law allows for capital punishment, it does so with prodigious safeguards and caveats that render it virtually impossible to justify in the 21st century. Recall the words of some of the loftiest rabbinic voices: Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah, Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva, as found in the Talmud, Makkot 7a:

A Sanhedrin [the highest ancient Rabbinic legislative and judicial body] that affects an execution once in seven years is branded a destructive tribunal. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says: once in 70 years. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva say: Were we members of a Sanhedrin, no person would ever be put to death. [Thereupon] Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel remarked: they would also multiply shedders of blood in Israel!

Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel’s above retort to his peers reveals his belief in the effectiveness of deterrence. We can certainly forgive his misinformed opinion, which reflects the mindset of his time, two millennia ago. He, of course, would not have been privy to recent sociological meta-studies that have found no meaningful evidence that the use of the death penalty deters crime in any way. For this reason alone, most traditional Jewish arguments for the death penalty no longer apply.

But there is more that all Jews must realize in the wake of the Holocaust and the events of the twentieth century. Many of the members of L’chaim, including this author, are direct descendants of Holocaust victims and survivors. We know more than most that capital punishment differs entirely from the Shoah. And yet, the shadow of the Holocaust is inextricably linked to our rejecting it in all cases.

The most common form of execution that the federal government and most states employ is lethal injection. Were the state of Utah to execute Mr. Robinson today, it would quite possibly be via this method, which is a direct Nazi legacy. The Third Reich first implemented lethal injection as part of its infamous Aktion T4 protocol to kill people deemed “unworthy of life.” Dr. Karl Brandt, Adolf Hitler’s personal physician, devised that program. Utah’s infamous option of death by firing squad also inescapably evokes Nazi atrocities.  If this were not enough, across the United States, more and more jurisdictions are erecting gas chambers, including one in Arizona that usesZyklon B, the same lethal gas used in Auschwitz. Alabama and Louisiana already put their prisoners to death with nitrogen gas, with more states eager to follow their lead. Jewish arguments about the death penalty today dare not ignore these proven, direct Nazi legacies. It is a relationship that mandates us to view capital punishment as one of the worst kinds of institutionalized evils that stain the souls of the United States, Israel, or any nation that seeks to employ it. This association commands us to declare “Never Again!” to state-sponsored murder.

The day after Charlie Kirk’s slaying marked 24 years since September 11, 2001. The United States elected to invade Iraq in response to that day’s horrid terror attack, ostensibly for the sake of fictitious “weapons of mass destruction,” but in actuality, motivated by a misplaced and misguided urge for retribution. We now know that the war in Iraq did nothing to stop that cycle of killings. If only American citizens and leaders had learned a lesson from their government’s vengeful reaction. Yet, the missteps of the past continue to repeat, with potentially disastrous consequences with every passing day. Even now, in response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the political Right has declared “war“ on the entire Left, which it has blamed for his killing. Similarly, just this past week, Israel bombed Hamas negotiators in Qatar in a misplaced vengeful response to a deadly attack in Jerusalem that Hamas did not even perpetrate. However displaced, from the death penalty to the Gaza genocide, the cycle of violence and retribution does not seem to end.

Rather than perpetuating that cycle by reacting to Charlie Kirk’s recent assassination with more killing, we must redouble our efforts to put an end to it, once and for all. In the wake of the inexcusable atrocity of his death, we respond not by chanting “LaMavet”—“To the death”—but rather by intoning with mournful hearts and renewed vigor: “L’chaim—to Life!”

This originally appeared on The Jurist.

The post The Death Penalty is the Wrong Response to Political Violence appeared first on CounterPunch.org.