Now clearly, there is no denying that our religion proscribes this punishment as well.
Well, to be fair, it doesn't. It prescribes (proscribe means to prohibit) decapitation (for murder) or strangulation (for adultery).
That being said, the rules surrounding the death penalty in the Gemara make the application of it very, very rare (assuming, of course, that the courts adhere to the rules).
As to your question, I think that you have to differentiate between the two crimes. I don't have a problem with the death penalty for murder, but I do have for adultery.
The Wolf
Actually, the question is regarding methods, not to crimes.
If they gave lethal injection to the adulterer, would you have as big of a problem as you have with stoning?
Regarding the gemara, sure it is rare, but its still there and hypothetically a person can still get executed. And even before Chazal made the strict rules, I am sure people did.
Yeah, the throwing off a cliff was pretty bad, but the way in which it was likely originally carried out was even worse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z...h?
v=ZNeq2Utm0nU
> Had these people been executed by lethal injection, would you have a serious problem with it?
You're kidding, right? Do you advocate Lethal injection for lighting a cigarrete on Shabbos?
Well, its a serious question. Are we more horrified by the actual crime being punished, or are we horrified by the method of execution.
Why can't I be bothered by both. The death sentence for adultery is disproportionate and therefore unjust and the method chosen for carrying out the sentence is barbaric. By opposing the former, I get the latter as a freebie, so that is the way I'll vote.
--Dead is dead
Do we think it any LESS cruel to set a person's date of death months in advance so they can watch the time slowly tick away? Then to walk them down a long hall, strap them to a table and inject them with poison, all the time knowing that there is an audiance watching the entire process?
Yeah, that sounds just peachy to me.
The only way to eliminate 'cruelty' altogether is to inform said person that it has all been a big mistake and that they are free to go...then when they turn to leave you shoot them in the back of the head.
>Do we think it any LESS cruel to set a person's date of death months in advance so they can watch the time slowly tick away?
Not by me, or most people.
Personally, I think people are much more bothered when they hear "stoning"
I doubt this would be a news article if it was lethal injection.
I think the appeal of the article is regarding the "stoning", because "That still happens now a days?"
>Do we think it any LESS cruel to set a person's date of death months in advance so they can watch the time slowly tick away?
FWIW, halacha mandates the death sentence be carried out within 24 hours of conviction.
Anyways G
The issue is not death penalty, but the fact that so much attention is given when someone is stoned. Would they have had a problem if it was a "gentle" lethal injection?
I thought the question was "Had these people been executed by lethal injection, would you have a serious problem with it? Would you feel less bothered?"
As far as people in general...yes, I think most people would feel diff about lethal injection relative to stoning.
But then again I feel that most people's opinion's are vastly overrated
Right
The question was, dealing with the same crime of adultery, which we feel today perhaps should not be punished, would it bother you (and others) if the execution was done in a more modern way.
>As far as people in general...yes, I think most people would feel diff about lethal injection relative to stoning.
I agree. I mean, everyone knows the blood thirsty nature of eskimos. But if you would simply remove stoning and put in lethal injection, half the people would not care, and human rights organizations would probably not bother so much either.
Commenting by HaloScan
