In the wake of Saturday’s horrific attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue, President Trump suggested the time has come to “bring the death penalty into vogue.” He explained, “When people do this, they should get the death penalty. Anybody that does a thing like this to innocent people that are in temple or in church … they should pay the ultimate price.” On this question and others, Trump displays a moral clarity in short supply these days.
Capital punishment has fallen out of favor in recent years because the public now takes an almost exclusively rehabilitative view of punishment. Activists and elected officials speak almost exclusively of “rehabilitating” rather than punishing criminals. And rehabilitation is a worthy goal, but it isn’t the exclusive end of criminal justice, which likewise seeks retribution, deterrence, and the defense of society. On every count, particularly at a time when technological advancement facilitates the identification of perpetrators and exoneration of those wrongly accused, the moral case for the death penalty has never been stronger.
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