ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the scope of the death penalty in the Torah, noting the crimes deemed punishable by death and the forms of execution advanced in the sacred text. It explains that, as with the common law system, Jewish law is an oral tradition in which successive authoritative interpretations and commentaries have 'codified' the law as a living legal, moral, and spiritual system. The chapter then discusses the place of capital punishment in contemporary Israeli society, highlighting the symbolic significance of forbearance and restraint in the politics of punishment. According to biblical law, capital punishment applies to a wide range of offences that can be loosely grouped into three categories. The first category is 'religious offences'. The second category of capital offences is crimes against the laws of decency and family integrity. The final category of crime are those which simultaneously breach divine law and seriously disrupt social order, such as premeditated or deliberate murder.
