By imposing the death penalty, a society claims the right to commit the greatest conceivable crime in order to atone for a crime. In doing so, it places itself on a par with the criminal.
Deadly Humanity
The sinful villain – praise be to God! –
was stabbed to death by syringes this morning.
The procedure was perfectly tidy and neat,
without any suffering for him or for us.
First we gently numbed him,
then put the needle in his veins,
afterwards sprayed them with ether
and finally administered the poison.
Dying, he returned to the right path,
his heart surrendered to God’s righteous hand.
It was a truly touching scene –
but perhaps a little too humane.
Image: Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (1755 – 1830): The Triumph of the Guillotine (1795); Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum (Wikimedia commons)
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