Wen Tzu - Verse 21, Part III

from Verse Twenty-One

So penalties are not enough to change customs, executions are not enough to stop treachery. Only spiritual influence is valuable.

~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~

Since the beginnings of modern society, there have been sanctions against such acts as stealing or murder, yet people still steal and murder today. So it should be patently obvious to anyone that such penalties and executions haven't stopped either behavior.

Many people who support the death penalty reason that it serves two important purposes: 1) It stops the specific individual from committing more crimes and 2) It serves as a deterrent to others who might contemplate committing the same sorts of crimes in the future.

Of course, point one is true, but history has shown that point two is not. If point two actually was a deterrent, then heinous crimes like murder would be few and far between. Anyone who has perused US crime statistics or has simply cracked open a newspaper knows this is categorically false. While the incident rate of major crimes ebbs and flows, it's still very prevalent in our society today.

The answer to such trials and tribulations lies somewhere else.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.