I just read a short article on CNN.com that discusses the recent media's walk through the death chamber at the Toyko Detention facility. Apparently, this is the first time in Japan that the media was allowed to see where criminals are executed. I think this sort of experience would be good for most of us. If we were all able to see death chambers or even an actual death penalty being carried out, we would be in a better position to judge whether or not we are for or against it. It's too easy to hold certain opinions in theory but it's quite another thing to see where our opinions lead. Someone being killed by the State is a serious matter but most of us will never see it. Wouldn't this experience benefit us ?
This got me thinking about what the death penalty represents. Usually people that are sentenced to death row, at least in the US, have committed murder. This becomes a debt that is owed to the person that was killed, or the State. The State here acts as the god(s) that has been negatively affected or sinned against. The "sacrifice" of the criminal is like the sacrificial lamb in the Abrahamic religions. The State is now appeased with the sacrifice.
I was wondering, earlier in the semester, what the similarities were between the different forms of sacrifice that we would be studying. It makes so much sense now!
The link to the article is http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/27/japan-reveals-long-secretive-execution-process/?iref=allsearch
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