They deserve to die! It gives closure to the family of the victim. These statements are heard when discussing justice and the death penalty. There is some real concern that a balance is held, and that individuals feel safe morally and spiritually in society. Even the wrong doer wants justice. But isn't that an important underlying question; "What is justice?" Well let us use "fair and equitable treatment for both the group and the individual" as our working definition. Fair, in our context can mean "free of favoritism bias; impartial." This from a very old copy of The American Heritage Dictionary.

But in a world of prejudice, which is having pre judged, or judged ahead of time, how do we secure justice? What are the statistics of innocents, incorrectly accused and wrongfully punished? What can be said of a society that would apply such a final solution without full guarantee of the correctness of the conviction? Where is justice when those who are executed are innocent?

Let us look at some numbers: The innocence rate has been found to be 4.1% of capital convictions, but the exoneration rate is only 1.6%. So more that statistically, a bit more than 2% of those executed will be innocent. This is injustice.

"It is injustice that destroys discipline. " "The truth is, Man cannot be trusted with "punishment." With it, he really does not seek discipline, he wreaks injustice." L. Ron Hubbard

And this only scratches the surface. When one gets into the imbalances regarding punishment and race in the USA, it is even more deeply enraging. And then compare by region. The American South East is still notably racist.

Even though 88% of leading criminologists in the US do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent, the Federal Department of Justice is starting to carry out death sentences again, choosing punishment, wreaking discipline. This violates the trust needed to build a future society. "Mutual trust is the firmest building block in human relationships. Without it, the whole structure comes down." L. Ron Hubbard.

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