Three murders over the past month have rightly sparked national outrage and awakened renewed demands for justice.
The first was the racially motivated murder of Iryna Zarutska by four-time convicted felon Decarlos Brown Jr. aboard a public light-rail train in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 22, 2025. The viral video footage of Zarutska’s murder is gruesome and unbearable to watch. The video shows Brown stabbing Zarutska without provocation and then bragging, “I got that white girl.” Perhaps almost as alarming, the video shows Zarutska sobbing into her hands, bleeding to death, while multiple passengers turned a blind eye to her suffering. Zarutaska died with no one to comfort her.
The second was the heartbreaking murder of retired Auburn University professor Julie Gard Schnuelle DVM, Ph.D. Schnuelle’s body was found near Kiesel Park in Auburn, Ala., on Sept. 6, 2025. She was likely walking her dog when Harold Rashad Dabney III, of Montgomery, allegedly attacked her.
Finally, the world watched in disbelief on X as Charlie Kirk, husband, father, Christian brother, and founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. As he often did, Kirk was speaking to an audience of hundreds of college students, demonstrating his passion for peaceful civil discourse when he was killed.
We are left astounded at these atrocities, asking how they can be possible. But I think there is a better question: What does the Bible require of us?
For over 1,200 years, the biblical model for criminal justice served as the basis for English Common Law and the foundation of its successor, American jurisprudence. Under the biblical model, the judicial system must adhere to strict due process, e.g., the two-witness requirement (Deut. 19:15, Matt. 18:16, 2 Cor. 13:1) and the punishment must be proportional to the crime, e.g,. an eye for an eye (Ex. 21:33-36 and 22:1-15, Lev. 6:2-5). Unlike our current system of mandatory minimum sentences, the Bible focuses on the maximum permissible sentence per crime. To summarize, the Bible permits three types of punishments: 1) exile, 2) financial punishment up to slavery, and 3) physical punishment up to death.
The biblical model for criminal justice is retributive, meaning the primary purpose of criminal justice is to punish the criminal. Secondarily, restitution to the victim was required in some cases (Ex. 21:33-36, Lev. 6:2-5). However, all other potential goals of criminal sentencing, e.g., rehabilitation, deterrence, etc., are, at best, unintended consequences of the punishment itself.
If this sounds harsh and vindictive to post-modern sensibilities, then allow me to introduce you to C. S. Lewis.
Lewis warned that the older biblical model of retributive justice was being replaced by the Humanitarian Theory of Punishment. “According to the Humanitarian theory, to punish a man because he deserves it, and as much as he deserves, is mere revenge, and, therefore, barbarous and immoral. It is maintained that the only legitimate motives for punishing are the desire to deter others by example or to mend the criminal,” Lewis writes. “When this theory is combined, as frequently happens, with the belief that all crime is more or less pathological, the idea of mending tails off into that of healing or curing and punishment becomes therapeutic.”
If this sounds familiar, it should. The entire criminal justice enterprise, even in Alabama, is infected with the humanitarian theory. As a result, we progressively moved away from punishing criminals towards trying to cure them. Rather than treating the criminal as a human being with agency, the justice system now patronizingly treats the criminal as “sick” and in need of re-education. This worldview aims to compel the criminal to be healed and reintegrated into society.
Lewis cuts through the façade of post-modern psycho-babble with a sword. According to Lewis, the problem with the Humanitarian theory is that it deprives the criminal of his humanity.
The Humanitarian theory removes from Punishment the concept of Desert. But the concept of Desert is the only connecting link between punishment and justice. ... Thus when we cease to consider what the criminal deserves and consider only what will cure him or deter others, we have tacitly removed him from the sphere of justice altogether; instead of a person, a subject of rights, we now have a mere object, patient, a ‘case’.
In answering the question above (What does the Bible require of us?), we must also answer, “What do these murderers deserve?”
The Bible is clear: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” (Gen. 9:6.)
This command is reiterated throughout Scripture.
The Bible treats murder as a unique crime, Dr. Joseph Boot explains in his work, “The Mission of God.” Unlike many other crimes in the Bible, a murderer could not settle his case to avoid death. Dr. Boot argues, “Financial restitution was to be made in a variety of cases of negligence, accident, or incidents where the victim of serious crimes was willing to accept appropriate financial compensation as an alternative to insisting on the death penalty (excepting murder, Num. 35:31-32).” As Dr. Boot references, Numbers 35:31 is explicit on this issue: “Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.”
Any criminal justice system that either permits a murderer to escape death or allows a judge to impose any other sentence is biblically unjust. The Bible explains the reason for this: Innocent blood pollutes the land.
Not only must these murderers be put to death, but their deaths must be public. Today, we are squeamishly afraid to witness justice firsthand. Our feminist impulses force us to hide criminals from the public eye and carry out sentences in the darkness of night. The Bible does not permit our cowardice. Rather, the Bible requires justice to be carried out in broad daylight in the public square so that all “shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness” (Deut. 13:6-11, 21:18-21).
Justice is hard. Witnessing a criminal receive his just deserts is harder. But God knows our weaknesses. He knows that the same people whose feet are so often prone to wander from His law will also seek to hide from His judgment. But even here, God instructs us: “Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood” (Deut. 19:13).
For the sake of our country – for Iryna Zarutska, Dr. Julie Gard Schnuelle, and Charlie Kirk – for the murderers who took their innocent blood; we must demand of our governmental leaders: In the name of Jesus Christ, Ruler of the Kings of the Earth, you shall not pity them, but you shall put away the guilt of the innocents.
Caleb Byrd is an Alabama resident and Senior Litigator at Younts Law, PLLC, where he practices Military Law, Veterans Law, and Civil Litigation. Prior to joining Younts Law, Caleb served as a U.S. Army JAG officer for seven years. As a JAG officer, Caleb served as a Trial Defense Attorney at Fort Bragg, N.C., as the Special Victims Prosecutor for Fort Knox, KY, and as an Operational Law Attorney deployed to Iraq.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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