Capital Punishment = Human Sacrifice

Does capital punishment equal human sacrifice?

This article on capital punishment being equivalent to human sacrifice is actually very interesting. I totally agreed with the author's view point. He compares human sacrifice to the Aztecs form of human sacrifice. This is great because we've gone over the Aztecs in the course. He pointed out three major points and they are that they are both socially accepted, done ritualistically, and are governed by a prevailing power. These three facts are true. I never really looked at capital punishment as being done ritualistically. But it has been. It is definitely something that is done ritualistically in the state of Texas. If you commit murder, more than likely, you will be sentenced to death. They are both found to be acceptable in their cultures to the point that I won't necessarily say that they're norms, but they are pretty close. I liked how he started off his argument that the death penalty is a ritual. He wrote, "Ritualized Practice in order to maintain the view that human sacrifice and death penalty are used to perpetuate the current way of life, it is particularly important to retain a level of ritualized and structural practice in the method". Its pretty true. In order for capital punishment to be effective, it must be a ritual so that it can keep people from committing these serious crimes. I really enjoyed this author.