Execution A Second Wrong That Makes Nothing Right
Given the realities of executions in America and the moral problems of using public authority to kill people, what is capital punishment actually for?
America today again faces questions about capital punishment. Illinois Gov. George Ryan has ordered a moratorium on executions there, worried that his state might execute innocent persons. A new Columbia University Law School study has found disturbing rates of error in capital cases, and the preponderance of persons awaiting execution continues to be persons of color. The American Bar Association has called for a moratorium on executions.
Among others opposing executions are the Roman Catholic bishops of the United States, of Washington state earlier this year, and Pope John Paul II.
Respect for all human life, even the lives of those convicted of heinous crimes, needs to become ever more significant in public policies.
The dignity of government in a free and democratic society is diminished, we Jesuits believe, by the state executing people, notably the poor, the mentally disabled and persons of color.
There are no public safety benefits purchased by these executions that cannot be gained by imprisonment.
No certitude can be achieved that the state will never execute innocent persons, and even a few mistaken executions are far too high a price to pay for killing others who are guilty of homicide.
States in America without capital punishment - and other democracies, such as Canada, Australia, Ireland and Great Britain, so much akin to America in many respects but without executions - have seen no loss in public safety as they have, years ago, abandoned executions.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court began to allow executions again, in 1976, there have been thousands of death sentences handed down and 651 executions. While advocates of executions see these numbers as a sign of admirable caution in governments moving to kill prisoners, we see this gap as yet more evidence of the uselessness of capital punishment.
No deterrent value can be found here, nor any sense that one life is made to pay for the loss of another - even vengeance remains unrequited.
Moving to get even more assurance that the innocent most likely will not face a death sentence, as some supporters of executions have proposed, will almost certainly add to the gap between death sentences and executions, making more incredible the alleged value of executions.
Compassion and support for the victims of violent crime, aid and comfort for the families of those killed and constant work to prevent crime by way of education, early intervention, full enforcement of firearms laws, reducing drug and alcohol abuse and other measures all are needed and far more apt to secure our safety as well as the just administration of law.
We Jesuits in the Spokane area support efforts to end capital punishment in this country, and we urge citizens and public officials to this purpose.