thomistic view on death penalty

1. Death Penalty (Does the state have the right to kill another person?)

My name is Thomas Aquinas. I’m a well known priest, philosopher and theologian. My life consisted of prayer, manual labors, preaching and teaching. I developed the Thomistic school of philosophy. I do believe the state has the right to kill another person only if the reason of killing the individual is no intending to kill because of hatred, it must be intended for overall good and justice of the majority. Death penalty is permissible when the reason of their death is wrongdoing or punishment. It’s not wrong to kill another person if the purpose is to save others life and keep others from danger. We need to seek for the good of the community even if that means to kill someone who is a threat to the society. The only explanation a person should be killed is for doing a really bad thing. One has to avoid doing bad things and try to be a person of good character, by possessing virtues and making choices that are morally good. The human act is to pursuit their good; an action that doesn’t contribute to a majority overall good and harms many should be punished. Moral consists in behaving well in your surroundings. By the natural law everyone know the difference of what is good and what is bad, so if they choice to do something bad the state has the right to kill them. There is no such thing as pure evil one must just follow God. Death penalty or capital punishment should be allowed for the security of all and justice, an individual that just wants to consciously do harm and prejudice others doesn’t deserve to live.

Irene Papadakys