The Case for Capital Punishment

Brian Dugan and his victims

Many years ago, I met a young man who confided to me that he'd lost his sister to a violent crime. In fact, I was familiar with the incident because it was a hideous crime that drew major media attention at the time.  

The man told me that his sister was returning home one day from her babysitting job when she was abducted by someone who then proceeded to rape and murder her before he dumped her lifeless body in a ditch near a major Chicago expressway.

When I expressed my outrage and stated that I hoped the perpetrator would receive the death penalty if he was caught and convicted of the crime, the young man surprised me with his response. He told me that as a Christian, he didn't believe in the death penalty. And he reasoned that if we executed the man, we'd be doing the same thing to him that he did to his sister.

Although I respect the man's opinion, I disagree. There's a distinct difference between an innocent person who's murdered and the execution of a person who takes away an innocent life. 

A person who destroys another person via murder has forfeited his or her right to live. That's not my opinion--it's biblical. Under the terms of the Mosaic Covenant, the ancient Israelites were commanded by God to administer the death penalty for infractions that we consider trivial today.

For example: "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." (Exodus 21:17) Here's another example: "Anyone who sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed." (Exodus 22:20) And here's yet another example: "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of a neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death." (Leviticus 20:10)

I don't like the death penalty and I wish we never had need of it. Unfortunately we do need it because we live in a fallen, evil world where there are those such as Brian Dugan--the man pictured above--who have no fear of God nor any respect for human life. 

Administered properly, the death penalty sends a powerful message--that those who destroy innocent lives will pay the ultimate price by forfeiting their own lives. And if that saves even one life by planting the fear of death in someone's heart by discouraging them from doing what Dugan did to two young girls and a nurse, then it's worth it.

And I'd like to see despicable monsters such as Dugan executed by hanging them in a public place. That's the way societies used to deal with scumbags such as Dugan. When you see someone die a horrible death by hanging, it has a profound effect on you.

Some folks are surprised that a Christian such as myself would support capital punishment. Aren't Christians supposed to be for life rather than death? Yes we are. 

And in fact, I hope people such as Brian Dugan come to realize the evil they've done and confess their sins to Jesus Christ while they're still here on this earth. 

Because if they die in their sins outside of Christ, they will suffer the eternal death penalty in a horrible place called hell. 

And that's a death penalty that I don't want anyone to experience. Ever.