Daniel 6:24

Then the king applied the lex talionis (law of retaliation) and cast his friend’s accusers into the very den in which they had placed Daniel (cf. Genesis 12:3; Esther 7:9-10; Galatians 6:7). Before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered and crushed them.

"What Darius did seems arbitrary and unjust. But ancient pagan despots had no regard for the provision in the Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 24:16): ’Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.’ (Even in Israel this humanitarian rule had been flouted, as when Abimelech ben Gideon had nearly all his father’s sons massacred, or when Queen Athaliah nearly exterminated the Davidic royal line and Jehu had all Ahab’s sons decapitated.)" [Note: Archer, "Daniel," p. 82.]

The effects of people’s sins touch others beside themselves. The execution of the evildoers’ family members seems unfair and cruel, but it reflects the principle of corporate solidarity that was common in the biblical world. [Note: See Joel S. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible.]