The Norwegian PM is visiting Vietnam. One of the subjects that has leaked to the press is Norway's point of view about death penalty. While I'm against death penalty, I have the impression that my view still differs from the mainstream variety of it.
First, the function of death penalty is four-fold: It scares people from doing the same crime, it gives society a form of revenge, it stops the person from repeating the crime, and it saves society the expense of keeping the person in jail.
The ethical view will differ between world views. That is, while the popular western model is about the value of the one life, believers in reincarnation may shrug and say that you're just sending the individual back to square one. There is no life actually lost.
Since I believe that this world doesn't really exist, but is a creation of consciousness, the value of the one life is not really a motivation. And it is easy for me to see that sending a person back to square one can be a solution. "You have not learned your lesson, you are misbehaving badly, try again from the start." That may or may not help the person being executed. The person might even accept this premise, being someone who believes in reincarnation.
However, it is a cheap and easy solution. By getting rid of the person, I have cheated myself for the possibility of doing something good. Being good towards someone who misbehaves is the ultimate form of goodness.
By getting rid of the person, I strengthen the idea that some people just can not be helped. That cruelty can not be overcome with goodness. These are thoughts of suffering. So someone else's death penalty then becomes part of the foundation of my own suffering.
Legalization of death penalty thus becomes part of the suffering of all people in that nation, and suffering leads to health problems. If, however, the policy is to enlighten the criminal, to help them realize that their suffering can be watered out with goodness, this policy would also encourage the citizens of the same nation to do the same. It would reduce the suffering of all the people, not just the the criminal.
If this hypothesis is true, there should be a correlation between the number of death penalties ruled (the intention, not the execusion) and the health of the people living in the same area, especially mental health issues. Since different countries view and deal with illness, and especially mental illness in different ways, I expect no raw data to be available at this time. A study should be conducted, using the same method of measurements in all countries.
However, bad thought also leads to bad action. Which means that there should also be a correlation between the number of crimes, including petty crimes, commited in an area and the prevalence of death penalty justification. Now is the time to put some students on the case to perform the actual study.
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