REPUBLICANS DEBATE THE MERITS OF PUBLIC EXECUTIONS

POINT – Wes Thomas Punishment in Proportion to the Crime

We all saw it. We saw the footage of Charlie Kirk being murdered. He was having a civil discourse with students at Utah Valley University, harming no one, and answering questions. Suddenly, his accused murderer, Tyler Robinson, shot him. He ran away while Charlie bled out on the ground with his family close by.

We all saw it. We saw the surveillance footage of young Iryna Zarutska being murdered. She was sitting in her train seat, harming no one, and watching a video on her phone. Suddenly, her murderer, DeCarlos Brown, Jr., stabbed her. He walked away while Iryna bled out in less than a minute on the floor of the train.

What is to be done to those who act with violence against the innocent? As Christians, are we to forgive like Erika Kirk forgave her husband’s killer? Certainly. But does the Christian duty of personal forgiveness negate the civil government’s responsibility to execute justice? Must the civil government turn the other cheek, too?

Lex talionis, literally the law of retaliation, whereby a punishment resembles the offense committed in kind and degree, has been the basis for capital punishment since God instructed Noah in Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Exodus 21:12-14 says “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death ... if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning… he [must] die.” and in verse 23ff “if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

The Apostle Paul affirms in Romans 1:32 that there are crimes deserving of death. And later in Romans 13, he affirms that rulers are a terror to bad conduct and are God’s servants. They “[do] not bear the sword in vain… an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

Numbers 35: 30ff says “ If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses.” and “you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death... You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.”

God’s righteous decrees through Moses are that murderers are to face the just retribution of death after conviction on the evidence of at least two witnesses. Innocent blood pollutes the land if there is no just penalty applied to the perpetrators.

Deuteronomy 17: 6- 7 again states that “...a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness,” but then also says that “[the] hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”

God’s righteous decrees require that the witnesses themselves are willing participants in the penalties applied to the perpetrators. Furthermore, all the people are also to participate.

This seems harsh to our ears. Should we not show compassion?

Deuteronomy 19: 11- 13 addresses this question with an illustration of the type of crime that deserves this sort of penalty: “But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies... hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you… And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

When conducted with appropriate solemnity and dignity, publicly visible executions would serve the cause of justice rather than be a spectacle. The citizens of Texas need to see justice carried out swiftly and transparently for crimes that shock the conscience and tear at the fabric of our communities.

Capital punishment is not only required for the deliberate, cold-blooded murders like we saw with Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska, but it must be public. The very peace of the nation is dependent on how we handle matters of criminal justice for high-handed acts of murder. Without a just punishment, there is pollution of the land, blood guilt of the innocent upon the nation, and God himself becomes the avenger against us (Psalm 2:12).

Wes Thomas

Wesley Thomas is Chairman of the Liberty County Republican Party and has served as a delegate to the last six Republican Party of Texas conventions. He has been a resident of Liberty County for twelve years. Wesley is a member of Oak Shade Baptist Church and lives in the community with his wife and five children.

COUNTERPOINT – Sarah Vickery Restore society, not public spectacles

The Chair of the Liberty County Republican Party, Wes Thomas, along with three out of five Precinct Chairs, would like to see the restoration of public executions, but is this justice? In September, the Liberty County Executive Committee, in a 3-2 vote, passed a resolution urging the Republican Party of Texas to adopt platform language restoring public executions for “the most heinous” crimes. Chairman Thomas claimed ownership of the resolution, and a healthy debate followed. I voted nay, and this is why.

All of the Biblical arguments made by proponents for the death penalty are legitimate. Our government is indeed given the responsibility of punishing wrongdoers, and it does just that, as evidenced by the nearly 600 people put to death in Texas between 1976 and 2025. The resolution for public executions specifically mentioned its historical use as a deterrent to crime. Research shows, however, that this punishment is not a reliable deterrent. Information from the National Institute of Justice indicates that the certainty of being caught is a much stronger deterrent than the severity of the possible punishment.

S t r e n g t h e n i n g o u r communities, restoring the nuclear family, working to instill traditional values into our youth, and having more police officers in our communities is a more reliable deterrent. If would-be criminals feel they are more likely to be apprehended, they are less likely to commit a crime.

If public executions were indeed historically a deterrent to crime, why then did societies move away from this practice? Public executions were designed to entertain citizens and also to demonstrate the vast and mighty power of the government. Our government’s purpose in the judicial process is to serve the greater good and to carry out appropriate punishment for the commission of crimes in a fair and impartial way. Places like the Islamic Republic of Iran, Somalia, and North Korea are reported to still carry out public executions. Do we, as Americans, really want our government using the same playbooks as these countries?

Our justice system is meant to be an impartial process that aims to restore societal balance in a fair and just way. This system is intended to be a moral process, not an emotional one.

If our government already has the power to exact justice in the form of the death penalty through a system based on fairness and impartiality, what value would a public display of the execution bring? Yes, our government is given the authority to be an agent of God’s wrath, but individual desires and actions based on our human, wrathful emotions, specifically a desire to see wrongdoers publicly executed, are human vengeance. Human vengeance and wrath are sinful. God’s wrath and vengeance are perfect.

Ultimately, I voted against this resolution because, while there are many verses in the Bible that reinforce the government’s role in justice and capital punishment, Romans 12: 19 clearly says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord”. We give our government the heavy responsibility of handing out impartial justice and being an agent of wrath. We must resist inserting our personal, sinful desires for earthly vengeance into the process.

Sarah Vickery

Sarah serves as the Precinct 10 Chair of the Liberty County Republican Party, the President of the Liberty County R e p u b l i c a n Women’s Club, and also serves as a member of Dayton City Council.