The Feld-Blog

The Bible decrees the death penalty for a variety of crimes. But when they started to interpret it, the Rabbis thought it was so morally reprehensible that they made it practically impossible for anyone to qualify for it. They made it almost a non-issue, even though it technically remained on the books. Since February of this year, California developed the same stance. A new law declared that only a licensed doctor can administer a lethal injection, but Hippocratic oath which begins "First, do no harm" prevents any doctors from agreeing to perform the injection. As a result, all death penalties in California are stalled.

Here is an interesting dilemma (and in my opinion a beneficial one). I think most of us can agree that a doctor (or nurse) should be the one to administer an injection, be it lethal or otherwise. And I don't think anyone would fault a doctor or nurse for refusing to violate the oath of their profession by doing so. And so we are at an impasse. Perhaps, however this speaks to the 8th amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. When doctors refuse to administer the only death-penalty method that California believes isn't "cruel and unusual," we have to ask ourselves "is it possible that ALL death penalties are cruel and unusual?"

I have made my stance on the death penalty before, so I won't bore you with it again, but I thought the above facts, which just came to my attention, were interesting and speak well to the moral vacuum surrounding many people's discussions of the death penalty.