Capital Punishment: The Inevitability of Caprice and Mistake, by Charles L. Black Jr. (Norton, 96 pp., $5.95/$1.95). Yes, it is obvious they are inevitable. Professor Black proves it, however, with supererogatory elegance, and amplifies it impressively. But one wishes he would either eliminate or support his obiter dicta: he is “revolted” by the death penalty, “just as I am revolted by the idea of poisoning for money.” Why? Is it really intolerable to kill the occasional criminal who deserves less? Yes, or probably so, if (as Black assumes) the extent of penalty is, so to speak, up to us. No, or not necessarily, if (as Burke puts it) the execution of justice should appear as submission to necessity, rather than the making of a choice. In a word, not killing certain people, whatever our revulsion, may be a dereliction of our duty. I propose, at the least, capital sentences with automatic commutation to life without parole, as a ceremonial way of imposing the community’s ultimate censure.
m. J. sobran jr.
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