Maybe. Let’s ignore individual morality- that then you’d be the killer- and if we kill killers, who’s going to kill you for your crimes? Let’s ignore the fact that the number of killers goes down but the numbers of victims go up- let’s just look at 2 things, 1 actually covered pretty hard in Batman films and other media.
The first thing is that simply put- killing often leads to killing. People look for revenge, yadda yadda. How safe has killing killers made certain parts of the Middle East for example? But directly to Batman- our second issue- if we normalize killing- if we escalate- killers tend to as well. If the cops start killing gang members- gang members start killing cops, start killing more indiscriminately. The level of brutality and sophistication increase at the top, and the levels of aggressiveness increase at the bottom. What’s more- if you know that you’ll be killed if you’re caught- you have no reason at all beyond decency to not go on a rampage or go to any length to not get caught.
The other Batman problem we also see in the real world is discretion. At least in theory- death is a penalty that requires a whole bunch of folks to all review a crime, confirm guilt, weigh all the evidence, and is not generally passed lightly. We make that societies call. To hand over to one man the ability to determine at their discretion who lives and dies is dangerous. What’s more- just as we saw in dark knight rises- that opens the doors for copy cats and wannabes. So even IF the one man has perfect judgment- those who see them take the law into their own hands and decide that they want to “help” too- may not. And then we are back to square one- because the crime our original “killers” are guilty of is unilaterally deciding that they know who “should” die. They made a personal judgment call that a specific person- for whatever reason- deserved or needed to die.
Put another way- if a gang member only kills other gang members- what is so different between them and a vigilante “cleaning up the streets?” If gangs were extra careful to not involve “innocents” and only killed each other- some might say “let the scum kill the scum” but long term that doesn’t work- and even the police and military have collateral damage at times so no matter how careful you are- there are problems. Eventually that fighting leads to other violence as well- or to power vacuums where you end up with very strong criminal organizations. Batman’s “no killing” rule isn’t perfect- but it’s meant to help not cause more problems.
But killing in itself isn't inherently bad. It ain't about the total number, it's about who is dying. I'd rather trade as many Timmy Terrorists as possible for GI Joes. I'll take a hundred Officer Smiths having carried out justifies killings over even one Pablo Escobar.
And frankly, I'll take Castle over Joker in a heartbeat.
And frankly, I'll take Castle over Joker in a heartbeat.
Frank Castle.