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Judaism: Crime and Punishment

Jewish attitudes to the death penalty

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Exodus 21:12 and 21:23–25 and their rabbinic reading, Mishnah Makkot 1:10 with Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon, the strict conditions for a death sentence, Israel's law, and Orthodox, Reform and Humanist views.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is capital punishment, and what purposes is it said to serve?

Key term

What does Exodus 21:12 teach about murder?

Key term

What does Exodus 21:23–25 say, and how did the rabbis apply it?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is capital punishment, and what purposes is it said to serve?

    Model answer

    Capital punishment is the death penalty, the legal killing of a person for a crime. Supporters say it gives retribution, deters others and protects society.

  2. 2

    What does Exodus 21:12 teach about murder?

    Model answer

    Exodus 21:12 says whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. The Torah treats deliberate murder as deserving death.

  3. 3

    What does Exodus 21:23–25 say, and how did the rabbis apply it?

    Model answer

    Exodus 21:23–25 sets life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The rabbis applied it as compensation for injuries, keeping death as the penalty only for murder.

  4. 4

    What does Mishnah Makkot 1:10 say about a court that executes people?

    Model answer

    The Mishnah says a Sanhedrin that executes once in seven years is called destructive. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah said even once in seventy years.

  5. 5

    What did Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon say in Mishnah Makkot 1:10?

    Model answer

    Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon said that had they sat on the Sanhedrin, no one would ever have been executed. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel replied that they would have multiplied murderers.

  6. 6

    What strict conditions did Jewish courts require before a death sentence?

    Model answer

    Two eyewitnesses had to see the crime, and the offender had to be warned beforehand. A court of twenty-three judges had to reach the verdict.

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