A good person of faith recently wrote to me challenging my assertion that treason justifies the death penalty, even for those who feel "thou shalt not kill" applies. Here is a thread given the reasons why treason morally necessitates a different treatment "plain old murder".

Those charged with treason will typically have taken an oath of office. They are charged with the safety of others, and can order people into situations where death is possible. There is a voluntary undertaking of the death penalty (in most cases where treason applies).

Treason is associated with a "ruin risk" for society, as traitors can lead to societal collapse. A murder can kill a few people, a traitor can lead to the deaths of millions. Traitors cannot be allowed to reoffend. There is a category error in comparing treason to murder.

Treason is always a systemic, rather than individual, phenomenon. It implies wrongful allegiance to some invalid entity or other other nation, not just a personal enrichment or betrayal. The individual may repent their crime, but the systemic nature means it counts for little.

A traitor is not merely a criminal within a society, but is effectively an out-of-uniform agent of an enemy, and waging war on the domestic population they promised to protect. They have foregone the usual protections of civil law by this choice.

There is an ethical principle of "skin in the game" — if you take an oath of office and can send others to their death, then you should face the same for abusing this power. A lesser penalty for treason creates an imbalance that will lead to disaster and death for the innocent.

Prison also condemns some people to be guards. In a sense "lives are lost" too in that quest. We accept the cost as part of a civilised world. But the nature of treason places an exceptional burden on housing traitors, since they cannot be protected by ordinary civilian means.

It is not virtuous to commit societal suicide by failing to remove the whole tumorous growth of treachery. A traitor supported by foreign powers can continue to act as a focus for rebellion and try to lead revolts from inside prison. This puts millions of lives at risk.

Treason can trigger wars, vast theft, social breakdown, environmental disasters, and widespread sickness. For society to heal from its wounds, the total removal of the traitor provides a finality that may be necessary for the grieving process to complete.

Treason means that there will always be a risk of the public extracting vengeance should the convicted traitor ever be released. The cost and value of creating new identities to protect traitors cannot be justified. We cannot allow vigilante justice to flourish, so never release.

Finally, there is a pragmatic scale problem. You can only deal with so many traitors (and Satanic rapists of children) at an affordable cost to society. They cannot be let out, as there is no potential for reintegration into society; the danger is too great. Death is only option.