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There are two points against execution for treason. The first is that it is barbaric. Secondly it is a far greater punishment to spend the rest of your life in prison without parole.

Treason is a particularly unpleasant crime. It it a betrayal of the community to which you belong and in most of the world that is just about the worst thing anyone can do.

There are at least two reasons for treason. The first is an ideological disagreement with the world in which you grew up. If someone becomes disenchanted with the way their country is run, giving away it's security is not the best way to bring things round to a preferred state of affairs. Believing that another government, with a completely different philosophy, is better, is acceptable. We all have to have a clear conscience to live at peace with ourselves. If someone really believes in a different system they should go and live under that regime and spread the word from there. No one is harmed. An ideological betrayal suggests a petty bitterness, meanness and a spoilt child who can't get their own way.

A second reason is betrayal for money. Sometimes an individual is blackmailed into betrayal, sometimes they have got themselves in a financial mess or they are just greedy and have the opportunity. If our communities were not so proscribed about how we should behave it would be less easy to blackmail someone. In the past homosexuals were an easy target for blackmail.

If someone is convicted and executed, their life is over and the problem is solved. Revenge has been carried out. The betrayer is no longer is afraid of retribution because they have lost their life.

But what has this action achieved? Is the fact of revenge as sweet as the imagining? Execution will not deter others. The person who perpetrates such actions always believes they can get away with it or the country they are dealing with will extract them in time. The methods used for execution are unpleasant and demean those who carry them out. It's curious that the seriously ill, who are dying, are not allowed to die by their own hand, with help, legally. Yet it is legal to kill someone because of their behaviour. This is rather confused thinking. It is also a rather primitive reaction. We can expect most people to be disgusted with anyone who can betray their country but the response needs careful thought.

If someone is imprisoned for life without the opportunity for parole, they spend the rest of their life at the hands of the betrayed regime. Surely this is a better punishment? The other form of imprisonment is what happened to the English spies, Burgess, McClean and Philby. They fled to Russia having spent years betraying their country. They could never return home. They were forced to live in a foreign place which would never become home, where they were not respected for what they had done. This seems to be a far greater punishment.

Learn more about this author, Rosemary Redfern.
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