Opinion 1 - John Stuart Mill
Opinion 2 - Amnesty International
Opinion
3 - Dudley Sharp
Opinion 4 - Andrew Silow-Carroll
Opinion
5 - Jeff Jacoby
Opinion 6 - Bud Welch
"Does fining a criminal show want of
respect for property or imprisoning him, for personal
freedom? Just as unreasonable
is it to think that to take the life of a man who
has taken that of another is to show
want of regard for human life. We show, on the contrary,
most emphatically our
regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he
who violates that right in another forfeits
it for himself."
The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishment.
It violates the right to life.
It
is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has
never
been shown to deter crime more effectively than other
punishments.
Opinion 3 - Dudley Sharp, excerpted from "Death Penalty and Sentencing Information", 10/1/97
"The fact that the evil, as long as they live, can
be corrected from their errors does
not prohibit the fact that they may be justly executed,
for the danger which threatens
from their way of life is greater and more certain
than the good which may be
expected from their improvement. They also have
at that critical point of death the
opportunity to be converted to God through repentance.
And if they are so stubborn
that even at the point of death their heart does
not draw back from evil, it is possible
to make a highly probable judgement that they would
never come away from evil to
the right use of their powers." St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Contra Gentiles, Book III,
146.
The movie Dead Man Walking reveals a perfect example
of how just punishment
and redemption can work together. Had rapist/murderer
Matthew Poncelet not been
properly sentenced to death by the civil authority,
he would not have met Sister
Prejean, he would not have received spiritual instruction,
he would not have taken
responsibility for his crimes and he would not have
reconciled with God. Had
Poncelet never been caught or had he only been given
a prison sentence, his
character makes it VERY clear that those elements
would not have come together.
Indeed, for the entire film and up until those last
moments, prior to his execution,
Poncelet was not fully truthful with Sister Prejean.
His lying and manipulative nature
was fully exposed at that crucial time. It was not
at all surprising, then, that it was just
prior to his execution that all of the spiritual
elements may have come together for his
salvation. It was now, or never. Truly, just as
St. Aquinas predicted (F.9.), it was his
pending execution which finally led to his repentance.
For Christians, the most crucial
concerns of Dead Man Walking must be and are redemption
and eternal salvation.
And, for that reason, it may well be, for
Christians, the most important pro-death
penalty movie ever made.
Opinion 4 - Ode
to "The West Wing":
TV Offers a Lesson in Religion and Politics, Andrew Silow-Carroll
Ziegler reminds the rabbi that the Bible supports the death penalty:
"The commandment says ‘thou shalt not murder,’ not ‘thou shall
not
kill.’ " The rabbi in turn quotes the Bible on the stoning of
wayward
children, its tolerance for slavery and the ban on homosexuality.
On
these issues, like capital punishment, "the Bible is wrong,"
says the
rabbi, and it is up to each generation to apply—and change—its
lessons according to the moral tenor of the times.
Later, in an exchange with the president, Ziegler elaborates on
the
rabbi’s argument. Yes, the Bible sanctions vengeance and the
death
penalty. "But the rabbis couldn’t stomach it," says Ziegler,
and they
imposed a series of restrictions on courts that made it all but
impossible for the state to take a life. He didn’t quote the
Talmud,
but the screenwriter clearly had in mind the famous passage that
"A
Sanhedrin [the supreme rabbinical court] that puts a man to death
once in 7 years (Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah says ‘Or even once
in 70
years’) is called a murderous one." (Mishnah Makkot 1:10)
Opinion 5 - excerpted from "Death penalty 'arguments'", Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe, 6/18/01
No one thinks the purpose
of punishment is to undo the crime, yet death penalty abolitionists
routinely remind us that killing a murderer won't bring his victims
back to life. If that is a reason to ban executions, it is a reason to
ban all punishment...
The families of murder victims do not stop mourning when the killer
dies, but for many, there is indeed a measure of solace in knowing
that the monster who destroyed their loved one will never hurt
anyone again. Abolishing executions certainly won't bring ''closure''
to grieving relatives. On the contrary, it will deepen their torment,
mocking them each time they remember that the person they loved
is in the grave, while his killer continues to breathe...
Where is the moral tradition that prescribes life for mass-murderers?
How can it be civilizing to tell the world's worst people that no
matter how many victims they butcher, no matter what cruelty they
inflict on others, the worst that will happen to them is that they will
go to prison?..
A society that bans the death penalty
outright is confirming that it does not utterly repudiate its worst
murderers. The United States (with his execution) made clear just how
seriously it regards McVeigh's monstrous crime. Change the law so
that no future McVeigh(s) can be put to death, and the United States
will be sending a different message: Mass murder isn't that bad...
Opinion 6 - A FATHER'S
URGE TO
FORGIVE, By Bud Welch, Time Magazine,6/16/97
Every Wednesday at 11:30, I'd meet my daughter Julie-Marie for lunch
at a Greek restaurant across the
street from the Murrah building. She spoke five languages and translated
Spanish for the Social Security
office there. But on Wednesday, April 19, 1995, I never got to have
lunch with Julie-Marie. I miss her
so--her smile, her kindness. She was only 23.
Every day for a year, I'd come by the fence that encircles the footprint
of the Murrah building, where it
once stood, where she died. And during the first few months after the
bombing, I was not opposed to the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh. But
as time has gone on, I've tried to think this out for myself. Right now
I'm trying to deal with forgiving. I can't tell myself or anyone else that
I've forgiven Timothy
McVeigh, because I have not. But my spiritual being tells me I have
to deal with that. And if he is sent to death row, or if he's executed,
I won't be able to choose to forgive him. As long as he's alive, I have
to deal with my feelings and emotions. I'm afraid that it's going to be
a real struggle. But it's a struggle I
need to wage. And I can't do that if he's dead.
There's been enough bloodshed where this fence now stands. We don't need to have any more. To me the death penalty is vengeance, and vengeance doesn't really help anyone in the healing process. Of course, our first reaction is to strike back. But if we permit ourselves to think through our feelings, we might get to a different place. I was taught that even the souls of dastardly criminals should be saved. I think it is necessary, even for the soul of Timothy McVeigh. I think my daughter's position on this would be the same as mine. Since I've started expressing my views, I've been surprised by the number of people who tell me they feel the same way but were afraid to say anything for fear of offending those, like myself, who were most affected by the bombing.
There are some other basic reasons why I'm opposed to executing him.
First, it doesn't make any
difference. The bottom line is that my little kid's not coming back.
I'll have to deal with this till the day I die. Killing McVeigh will not
change that. The second reason is that dead men don't talk. If he's in
prison long enough, McVeigh may tell us what his thought processes were,
why he did what he did, and who else was involved. I want to hear that
information, even if comes out in the form of bragging.
I now go to the fence about twice a week. I go at least once during
the week, and I always stop by on
Sundays after 12 o'clock Mass. This place has a lot of meaning for
me, especially the elm tree in the
parking lot. We call it the Survivor Tree. Julie always liked to park
her little red Grand Am on the east
side of that tree, in the shade. Now it's the only living thing left
in this place. When I go there, sometimes I lean against the trunk, close
my eyes, listen to the leaves and think about the way it used to be. Then
I go down to the fence, and strangers will sometimes ask me questions:
"Where was the front door to the building?" or "Where was the truck parked?"
Then I tell them who I am, and they share their deepest thoughts with me.
That's a very positive thing--to touch and see and talk and visit. And
to continue to tell the story of who my Julie-Marie was.
(And from a panel discussion at Harvard) - As far as the death penalty
is concerned, it won’t help me any when Tim is killed. The death penalty
is about revenge and hate, and I know there are people sitting around this
table right now that profess to be Christians. If we’re going to truly
follow Christ, as I feel like I try to do, I think we must ask ourselves
this one question about the death penalty: "Would Jesus pull the switch?"
I don’t think that he would, because Jesus stopped an execution, when he
said, "Let those who are without sin cast the first stone." I think Ghandi
put it very well about the Old Testament -- "An eye for an eye leaves the
whole world blind."