Human thinking often ignores this equal-value relationship when it comes to the taking of life. Attention shifts from the victim’s life to that of the murderer. The lives of possible future innocent victims are also ignored, while the guilty murderer’s life becomes highly valued. To end this life, say well-meaning opposers of the death penalty, is to cheapen all life, violating the “sanctity of life.” Is this view reasonable?

Well, as noted earlier, the value we put on something is usually indicated by the price we are willing to pay for it. Should the value of an innocent murder victim’s life be reduced to that of mere stolen or damaged property, to be compensated for by just a prison term? Apparently many think so. But the Originator of life sets the value of an innocent life at the most that a murderer has to give​—his own life. “Anyone shedding man’s blood, by man will his own blood be shed.” Far from cheapening life, this God-given law puts the highest possible value on it, a price that many do not want to see paid.​—Gen. 9:6.

In reality, are not those who impose weak penalties for the taking of life the ones who actually make life cheap? Their unbalanced thinking on this matter is evident when we consider how they view other matters where life is at stake. Is it consistent to protest taking the lives of a few hundred guilty murderers, while at the same time advocating, and even legalizing, the annual slaughter by abortion of an estimated 50 million innocent human fetuses world wide?

Or, how reasonable is it to oppose the death penalty for murderous criminals, yet justify killing the cream of one’s fellowmen in warfare over political differences? For example, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches declared capital punishment to be a violation of the “sanctity of life.” Yet, at the very same time, the Council was dispensing many thousands of dollars to African guerrilla groups that were taking lives for political ends!

Apparently the “sanctity of life” is not the real issue with many opposers of capital punishment. Is it wise to put the thinking of those with such contradictory values, however well-intentioned, ahead of God’s judgment in this matter?

Is It Murder?

Emotion-charged descriptions such as “legalized murder” also evade the real issue. “Murder” itself is a legal term for unlawful killing, just as “stealing” denotes unlawful taking. Thus, if a policeman confiscates a criminal’s gun, it cannot be called “stealing.” Neither can a lawful execution, by definition, be called “murder.” The Bible makes very clear this difference between murder and killing.

Some may respond that the deterrent value of capital punishment is unproved. But consider: If it would deter even a few potential murderers, yet it is not used, who is to answer for the lives of their innocent victims? On the other hand, if the death penalty is carried out, only the lives of murderers are lost. Which lives do you consider more valuable?

Does unequal application of the law in favor of certain groups make capital punishment invalid? According to this reasoning, because unequal sentences are often handed out by different judges for the same crimes, all criminals should be set free! However, in 1971 a black Illinois state senator declared, in support of capital punishment: “I realize that most of those who would face the death penalty are poor and black and friendless. I also realize that most of their victims are poor and black and friendless and dead.”

Discriminatory punishment under the present human judicial system merely illustrates the wisdom of the Bible’s law requiring the same penalty for murder in every case “without fail.” Then the criminal knew exactly what to expect if he considered committing murder, rather than hoping for reduced punishment from a “soft judge” or through “plea bargaining.”​—Num. 35:16-21.

If capital punishment “brutalizes society,” as many insist, it would follow that its elimination should surely tend to make society more humane. Then, why is it that American brutality (as measured by the rate of violent crime) suddenly grew most rapidly at the very time executions ceased? What, in truth, actually “brutalizes society”​—capital punishment, or the making of innocent lives cheap for criminals to take?