When I was still a teenager, I became a pacifist, and I have remained so for nearly 70 years now. It was perhaps only a little later, and for some of the same reasons, that I became an opponent of the death penalty, and I ask you to consider that position as you read this post.
The
above meme was included in a blog post
I made in December 2013. That article, which you can access here, is the only time I have dealt
directly with the matter of the death penalty since I started this blog over 15
years ago. But this is an important matter that needs further consideration.
Support for the death penalty is at an all-time low among USAmericans, but still, according
to a late 2024 Gallup poll, 53% of Americans say that they
support the death penalty. And in spite of decreasing public support, in 2024, the number of executions was the most since 2015 (with 2018 the same).
Of
the 25 executions in 2024, 48% were non-White. Fifteen of those 25 were from
only four states: Alabama (6), Texas (5), Oklahoma and Missouri (4). The
average age of those executed was 52, but their average age at the time of
offense was 27 (including four teenagers)—a 25-year gap!
Consider
these prominent people’s opposition
to the death penalty:
**
Most prominent is Pope Francis, who changed the wording in the Catechism of
the Catholic Church in 2018. It now reads,
… the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.
*
Far earlier, Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and the author of Dead Man
Walking (1993), became a tireless advocate of abolishing the death penalty since first accompanying Elmo Patrick “Pat” Sonnier (b. 1950) to his
execution by electrocution at Louisiana
State Penitentiary on April 5, 1984.
From
1993 to 1995, Prejean served as the National Chairperson of the National Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty, which was founded in 1976.*1
*
Recently, I learned that John Grisham, the noted novelist, is also an opponent
of the death penalty. Last October, I read the three novellas in his 2022 book Sparring
Partners. The second, “Strawberry Moon,” is a touching story of a woman who
became pen pals with a man facing execution.
Grisham’s
main concern, it seems, has been the execution of people who were apparently
innocent, and his latest book is Framed: Astonishing True Stories of
Wrongful Conviction.*2
* Former President Biden also opposes(d) the
death penalty. In 2021, his Administration placed a moratorium on federal
executions, and on December 23, 2024, he commuted the sentences of 37
individuals on the federal death row to sentences of life in prison without the
possibility of parole.*3
From
1972 to July 2020, there were only three federal executions. And even though there
had been no federal executions since January 2021, during the last six months
that Trump was in office as the 45th President, there were thirteen federal
prisoners executed, including the first woman in 67 years.
On
inauguration day in 2025, the 47th President rescinded Biden’s
moratorium on federal executions. It is widely recognized that conservative
White evangelicals favor the death penalty far more than do
moderate/progressive Christians, so perhaps Pres. Trump was primarily pandering
to his base.
If
you would like to know more about why I oppose the death penalty, please read the last part of Chapter 9 in my book Fed
Up with Fundamentalism (2007, 2020), even though the discussion there is
also too brief.
Or,
please email me or post your questions/comments on the blogsite. I look forward
to dialoguing with several of you on this important issue.
_____
*1 At the invitation of Jesuits in
Japan, Sister Prejean (b. 1939) visited Japan four times. In 2002, when she came
to Fukuoka, June and I had the privilege of hearing her speak and then chatting
with her. Last Sunday, we watched the 1995 movie Dead Man Walking and
were impressed again by Sister Prejean. In the film, she was portrayed by Susan
Sarandon, who won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Actress for that performance.
*2 Grisham, who celebrated his 70th
birthday on February 8, was interviewed for an article in AARP Bulletin
in October 2024. Twelve years ago, he was interviewed by Bill Moyers regarding
Grisham’s first nonfiction novel, The Innocent Man. That
interview, titled “John Grisham on Wrongful Death Penalty Convictions,” can be accessed here.
*3 Death penalties are usually carried
out by state governments, but the federal government imposes and carries out a small
minority of the death sentences in the U.S.
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Here is part of a longer email from Thinking Friend Jamea Crum, who lives in Springfield, Mo.:
ReplyDelete"I have always been against the death penalty, but I don’t remember making that decision. It has always been a part of me. How could I as a nurse believe it is right?"
Thanks, Jamea, for your comments. I hadn't thought about nurses and the death penalty, but here is what I just now found by my Google inquiry:
Delete"The American Nurses Association has taken an official position opposing the death penalty for the first time in its organization’s history. [This was written in 2017.]
"The organization has objected to nurses participating in the execution of prisoners since 1983, but a revised position statement issued Tuesday now extends the position to capital punishment as a practice.
“'The American Nurses Association (ANA) opposes both capital punishment and nurse participation in capital punishment,' the statement reads. 'Participation in executions, either directly or indirectly, is viewed as contrary to the fundamental goals and ethical traditions of the nursing profession.'”
And just now Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago sent these comments:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for your comments and opposition to the death penalty. It is hard to justify the death penalty in a country with a flawed judicial system, and so some innocent people have been executed. The reasons you cite are even better reasons to oppose it.
"Currently, there are 23 states where the death penalty has been banned; 23 where it is still legal; and four where it has been paused. Internationally, it is banned by both Canada and Mexico, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and all EU countries.
"We saw Dead Man Walking shortly after it was released. It is an excellent movie."
Thanks, Eric, for your comments and the additional information you shared. -- I'm not sure when we first saw "Dead Man Walking," for we were living in Japan and there is a lag between when movies are released and when they are available in Japan as English movies, understandably, always have Japanese subtitles added. But even though we had seen it before, we were surprised that we remembered so little of it (other than the general theme) when we watched it again last Sunday. Perhaps you (and others) would also be impressed by watching it again 30 years after seeing it the first time.
DeleteHere are comments received from a local Thinking Friend:
ReplyDelete"Good morning, Leroy. A significant post. One of my objections to executions is that they are done by the state, which means the citizens, that is to say, you and me. I would like to hear what the executioner says out loud."
Dennis Boatright, another local Thinking Friend, sent the following email a few minutes ago:
ReplyDelete"We debated this in Sunday School and I said while I thought too many people were incorrectly tried and sentenced to death, I thought the death penalty had value as a bargaining chip for incenting murderers to disclose where their victims were buried. It could have been when we were reading your book, so over 15 years ago. Having learned more since then, I no longer support the death penalty. I am especially opposed here in Missouri where it is improperly executed (pun intended). In Missouri, it is not just the death penalty. There are other sentences that are excessively long or the convicted are now known to be innocent, but our governors and attorney generals will not accept they were wrong."
Thanks for your comments, Dennis. I remember with appreciation when Milton's SS class studied my book "Fed Up with Fundamentalism," but I had forgotten about your partial support for the death penalty then. I am glad that you oppose it now, at least in Missouri.
DeleteWhat has particularly distressed me is how our former governor, who is from Polk County where June was born and lived all her live until we got married and is a member of First Baptist Church in Bolivar, never once granted clemency in a death penalty case, even though in some cases there were appeals from prosecutors for him to do that. In the past three elections, the voters in Polk County voted overwhelming for Trump each time, and they seem to be a solid part of the base I suggested that Trump may be pandering to now.
Here now are comments just received from Sue Wright, another local Thinking Friend:
ReplyDelete"I am totally against the death penalty. It is supposed to be a deterrent, but of course, isn’t; it is administered unfairly between the races; it is throwing stones; and it has through the years, put people to death who were innocent. It also prevents someone guilty from atoning in a meaningful way or from growing beyond their criminal experience into a better person.
Late yesterday afternoon, I received comments from two more Thinking Friends. The first was from Truett Baker who lives in Arizona:
ReplyDelete"I too am opposed to the death penalty as one of the Ten Commandments is, 'Thou shalt not kill.' Pretty plain to me. I don't know that Jesus specifically addressed capital punishment, but he spoke against anger and violence on several occasions. Neither the spirit or the action was part of his teaching genre. There are many reasons and I'm sure you could list them. Thanks for another well-written piece."
Thanks, Leroy, for your comments and your position on the death penalty. I am currently reading 'The Truth You Always Have,' by Jim McCloskey. A memoir of sorts, of a man who, as a seminary student (Princeton), got assigned to be a chaplain at a prison. His first friend, an inmate who supposedly killed another man. I can't remember whether he was on death row, but I think so. Soon enough, Jim came to believe his friend ... that was innocent. In time, Jim started a ministry to stop capital punishment. Jim is also a friend of John Grisham. In fact, they worked together to stop some prisoners from being killed."
ReplyDeleteI appreciate these comments, for I should have mentioned that Grisham's latest book which I mentioned in my blog article was co-written with McCloskey. Here is a paragraph from Amazon.com regarding that:
Delete"John Grisham is known worldwide for his bestselling novels, but it’s his real-life passion for justice that led to his work with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries, the first organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people who have been wrongly convicted. Together they offer an inside look at the many injustices in our criminal justice system."
As a member of Amnesty International for over 30 years, and in the spirit of Jesus, I am opposed to the death penalty. Here is a bit of Canadian history cited from Wikipedia: "The death penalty was ended in practice in Canada in January 1963 and was abolished in two stages, in 1976 and 1999. Prior to 1976, the death penalty was prescribed under the Criminal Code as the punishment for murder, treason, and piracy. In addition, some service offences under the National Defence Act continued to carry a mandatory death sentence if committed traitorously, although no one had been executed for those offences since 1945. In 1976, Parliament enacted Bill C-48, abolishing the death penalty for murder, treason, and piracy. In 1999, Parliament eliminated the death penalty for the military offences."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Garth, for your comments. It was good to hear from you again. I appreciate you sharing how Canada abolished the death penalty. In this way, as in others, Canada seems to be a more progressive country than the U.S.
DeleteI became acquainted with a man named Darryl Burton after he was exonerated for a murder he didn’t commit, and I asked him to speak at our Provocateurs & Peacemakers group. Years before, his public defender had spent about an hour with him before his trial and conviction (life without parole). If the people who set him up had gone a bit further and planted some physical evidence, he may have gotten the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteLeroy, I’m really curious about what it was that caused you to become a pacifist as a teenager. Was it the words of Jesus? A book or article you read? A person you talked to?
Thanks, Fred, for sharing this about your acquaintance who was exonerated for a murder he didn't commit. As is often the case, I am sorry that I am not able to attend your P&P group meetings, I would like to have heard his talk.
DeleteRegarding the questions in your last paragraph, of course the words of Jesus had a lot to do with it. But it was also (for reasons I don't remember now) because of reading about Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700~60) and his welcoming and then joining the Moravian group that traced its existence back to Jan Hus (c.1369~1415) and his followers, who took the name Unity of the Brethren (often later called the Moravian Brethren). Among other things, there was a strong pacifist emphasis in that movement, and in learning von Zinzendorf and the Moravians he befriended, I decided that they, indeed, were correct in seeing pacifism as a part of what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. So, I decided that I ought to become a pacifist as the members of that group were and as von Zinzendorf became.
(The last part of a blog article I posted back in Nov. 2019 is about Hus: see
https://theviewfromthisseat.blogspot.com/2019/11/thinking-about-bohemians.html )
Though I am still against the death penalty for reasons already mentioned by you and other responders, I am in a quandary about what to do with life without parole sentences. In a visit to Colonial Williamsburg, I was told the old two cell jail was designed for temporary housing, not really punishment. The stocks on the main street were used extensively, and hanging was the favored punishment for more serious crimes. Judicial law had determined long term confinement was a harsh and unusual punishment and therefore was not practiced.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings get very confused when I consider someone who has been found guilty without any doubt will now be confined for perhaps fifty or more years in a place where they will be kept dry, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, given three meals a day, health care, have access to recreational activities, a library, perhaps limited use of computers, and maybe even a chance to continue their education. How far wrong am I on these institutional conditions? We as tax payers are covering all this for someone found guilty of crimes against society, perhaps destroying a number of lives and families in the process.
I am still against capital punishment primarily because there is no way to reverse a mistaken conviction and it leaves no room for confession, repentance, and salvation, the thief on the cross next to Jesus being an unusual exception. If we define murder as the intentional taking of life when the victim has no chance of defense, then capital punishment is murder, murder with the state's and citizens' approval.
Tom, thanks for your thought-provoking comments. But with regards to your second paragraph, please re-read the third paragraph under the image in the blog post. Note that there is an average of 25 years between the crime committed and the execution of those who committed those crimes for whom the death penalty is applied. This means, we taxpayers have already been paying the bill for those criminals for 25 years, and as the average age at their execution is 52, most will likely not live more than another 25 years. Also, please note the following words posted on the website linked to following the quote:
Delete"The death penalty is a moral issue for some and a policy issue for others. However, it is also a government program with related costs. Many people assume that the state saves money by employing the death penalty since an executed person no longer requires confinement, health care, and related expenses. But in the modern application of capital punishment, that assumption has been repeatedly proven to be wrong."
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/costs
I agree with what you wrote in your final paragraph.
I am opposed to capital punishment because harsh punishment coarsens our society. We are stuck on vindictiveness and cruelty. We practice the politics of resentment. We should be healing, looking for restorative justice, not for harsher punishments. Society's failures cause many crimes. Social and economic justice will do far more to fight crime than the death penalty does, if the death penalty does at all. It is true that a lot of innocent people are on death row, and have even been executed, but wrongful convictions are part of the entire justice system, not just death penalty cases. Is sending an innocent person to jail for 50 years less horrible than executing them? Maybe, but not by much. As I recall, someone once said (approximately) "In Texas, football is a religion, and the death penalty is a bloodsport."
ReplyDeleteCraig, I fully agree with what you said about the importance of seeking healing and working for restorative justice. But I partly because of what Tom said above, I do think life without pardon is definitely superior to executing anyone, and all the more so if that person is innocent. But as I (will) say to Linda below, I believe there ought to be indeterminant sentences even for those convicted of horrible crimes.
DeleteYesterday evening I received these pertinent comments from local Thinking Friend Linda Schroeder:
ReplyDelete"I trust that you already know of my many years of adamant opposition to the death penalty. During my early years of developing and directing Project COPE I was privileged to provide reentry services to and become lifelong friends with persons who had been convicted of murder, sentenced to life in prison, and eventually were forgiven, granted parole on the basis of their rehabilitation and good conduct. They became good citizens, good neighbors, good taxpayers, good friends, even good COPE volunteers and members of the Board of Directors. A sentence of 'life with no possibility of parole' is also a death sentence . . . death by incarceration! I will never accept that as a just and reasonable and only alternative to the penalty of death by execution."
Linda, I appreciate your comments, especially because you have been directly involved in "reentry services" with people who had committed serious crimes. But as I indicated above, I think there is a vast difference between the state executing criminals and sentencing them to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Thus, I do not think it is appropriate to call such "death by incarceration." But from the time I was a sociology major in college and took a course in Criminology, I have been a strong proponent of indeterminate sentences rather than life imprisonment, especially when the latter has no provision whatsoever for parole. So although I am more strongly against capital punishment, I believe that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole should be opposed also.
DeleteThinking Friend David Johnson, a Biology Professor Emeritus in Alabama, sent the following comments late last night:
ReplyDelete"I became an opponent of the death penalty in my teens, not for religious reasons, but because of the Constitution. I believe there is no crueler penalty than the mental anguish that comes with sitting in prison for days, weeks, months, or years knowing that your life is going to end at a certain hour. Since then, that conviction has only become stronger. I now believe that, if it were the only reason, the death penalty should be abolished because it is clearly not applied equitably. When was the last time a rich, white man was executed? Also, 'those who murdered whites were found more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks.' (UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, DEATH PENALTY SENTENCING, FEBRUARY 1990)."
I was surprised to see that 80% of Japanese people are in favor of the death penalty:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.socialnews.xyz/2025/03/02/over-80-per-cent-of-japanese-people-favour-capital-punishment-report/