Posted in Commentaries, on September 28th, 2012

More reasons against capital punishment

It happened quickly. The terror, the blood, the death seemed to transform a brisk fall day into a scene of horror.

It was the worst bank robbery in Nebraska's history, and it happened 10 years ago in September, in a little town near the town where I grew up. Three masked robbers got no money but killed five citizens. The town tore down the bank building, but the grief and pain remain raw.

The anniversary was a potent reminder that the families of murder victims need ongoing support and prayer.

Another anniversary occurred in September as well. One year ago on Sept. 21, Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia for the murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. Davis' death was accompanied by serious questions about his guilt.

There was no physical evidence against Davis, so the case relied on witness testimony, which contained several inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Later, all but two of the state's nonpolice witnesses from the trial recanted or contradicted their testimony, according to Amnesty International.

Many of those witnesses stated later in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Davis. One witness who did not recant his testimony was a main suspect in the shooting.

We'll never be certain that Davis was innocent. But neither will we ever be certain of his guilt, a frightening prospect since execution is an irreversible punishment. Every American should abhor the possibility of killing an innocent man.

These two anniversaries seem entwined in my mind, partly because after 10 years, the three bank robbers remain on death row. Nebraska has 11 men on death row, but the last execution was in 1997. Nationally, we are trending away from the death penalty. Connecticut became the fifth state in five years to abandon execution, and California citizens face an important referendum on the death penalty this November.

Studies show the death penalty carries an exorbitant financial cost to the state compared to the alternative: life without the possibility of parole. It's unfair to the poor — 90 percent of those tried for the death penalty cannot afford to hire their own attorney. Since 1973, at least 140 people have been freed after evidence revealed that they were sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. What does this say about the credibility of the system?

The death penalty ultimately provides no justice to victims and discredits us as citizens. Because we must be certain of guilt, appeals drag on for years. Repeatedly, families are forced to read again the gruesome details of crime. The money spent on the death penalty could be better spent on counseling or even financial support for the victims' families.

In September, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput issued a strong statement regarding the futility of the death penalty.

Capital punishment “simply doesn't work as a deterrent,” the archbishop said. “Nor does it heal or redress any wounds, because only forgiveness can do that.”

Archbishop Chaput went on to say that “when we take a murderer's life we only add to the violence in an already violent culture, and we demean our own dignity in the process.”

Nationally, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged repeal of capital punishment. Both Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have urged an end to execution.

Archbishop Chaput put it well: “As children of God, we're better than this, and we need to start acting like it. We need to end the death penalty now.”

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3 Responses

1. 9) “Troy Davis & The Innocent Frauds of the anti death penalty lobby”,
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2011/11/troy-davis-innocent-frauds-of-anti.html

   The false innocence claims by anti death penalty activists are both blatant and legendary (1).

   Some examples:

   4) “The Innocent Executed: Deception & Death Penalty Opponents”
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/10/08/the-innocent-executed-deception–death-penalty-opponents–draft.aspx

   5) The 130 (now 140) death row “innocents” scam
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/04/fact-checking-issues-on-innocence-and-the-death-penalty.aspx

   6) “Exoneration Inflation: Justice Scalia’s Concurrence in Kansas v. March”, by Ward Campbell, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice, p 49, The Journal of the Institute for the Advancement of Criminal Justice, Issue 2, Summer 2008
   http://www.cjlf.org/files/CampbellExonerationInflation2008.pdf

   7) “The innocence tactic: Unreliable studies and disinformation”, reports By United States Congress, Senate, 107th Congress, 2d Session, Calender no 731, Report 107-315. The Innocence Protection Act of 2002, (iv) The innocence tactic: Unreliable studies and disinformation, p 65-69
   http://alturl.com/6j7oc

   8) “The Innocent and the Shammed”, Joshua Marquis, Published in New York Times, 1/26/2006
   http://coastda.blogspot.com/2006/01/innocent-and-shammed-nyt-oped.html

   10) “The Myth Of Innocence”­, Joshua Marquis, pu­blished in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminolog­y – 3/31/2005, Northweste­rn University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois
   http://coastda.blogspot.com/2005/03/myth-of-innocence.html

   11) Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review”
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/05/04/sister-helen-prejean–the-death-penalty-a-critical-review.aspx

   12) “At the Death House Door” Can Rev. Carroll Pickett be trusted?”
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/01/30/fact-checking-is-very-welcome.aspx

   13) “Cameron Todd Willingham: Another Media Meltdown”, A Collection of Articles
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/categories/Cameron%20Todd%20Willingham.aspx

   Footnote

   1) From: “The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives”
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-penalty-saving-more-innocent.html

   Also review:

   Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/innocents-more-at-risk-without-death.html

   By: Dudley Sharp on September 28, 2012 at 9:12 pm

2. Archbishop Chaput is simply dead wrong.

   The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
   Dudley Sharp

   The death penalty has a foundation in justice and it spares more innocent lives.

   Anti death penalty arguments are either false or the pro death penalty arguments are stronger.

   The majority populations of all countries may support the death penalty for some crimes (1).

   Why? Justice.

   THE DEATH PENALTY: SAVING MORE INNOCENT LIVES

   Of all endeavors that put innocents at risk, is there one with a better record of sparing innocent lives than the US death penalty? Unlikely.

   1) The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-penalty-saving-more-innocent.html

   2) Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/innocents-more-at-risk-without-death.html

   MORAL FOUNDATIONS: DEATH PENALTY PT. 1

   1) Saint (& Pope) Pius V: “The just use of (executions), far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this (Fifth) Commandment which prohibits murder.” “The Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent” (1566).

   2) Pope Pius XII; “When it is a question of the execution of a man condemned to death it is then reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned of the benefit of life, in expiation of his fault, when already, by his fault, he has dispossessed himself of the right to live.” 9/14/52.

   3) John Murray: “Nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard for the sanctity of human life.”

   “… it is this same atrophy of moral fiber that appears in the plea for the abolition of the death penalty.”

   “It is the sanctity of life that validates the death penalty for the crime of murder. It is the sense of this sanctity that constrains the demand for the infliction of this penalty. The deeper our regard for life the firmer will be our hold upon the penal sanction which the violation of that sanctity merit.” (Page 122 of Principles of Conduct).

   4) Immanuel Kant: “If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death.”.

   “A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral.”

   5) Billy Graham: “God will not tolerate sin. He condemns it and demands payment for it. God could not remain a righteous God and compromise with sin. His holiness and His justice demand the death penalty.” ( “The Power of the Cross,” published in the Apr. 2007 issue of Decision magazine ).

   6) Theodore Roosevelt: “It was really heartrending to have to see the kinfolk and friends of murderers who were condemned to death, and among the very rare occasions when anything governmental or official caused me to lose sleep were times when I had to listen to some poor mother making a plea for a criminal so wicked, so utterly brutal and depraved, that it would have been a crime on my part to remit his punishment.”.

   7) Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Again, every rogue who criminously attacks social rights becomes, by his wrong, a rebel and a traitor to his fatherland. By contravening its laws, he ceases to be one of its citizens: he even wages war against it. In such circumstances, the State and he cannot both be saved: one or the other must perish. In killing the criminal, we destroy not so much a citizen as an enemy. The trial and judgments are proofs that he has broken the Social Contract, and so is no longer a member of the State.” (The Social Contract).

   8) John Locke: “A criminal who, having renounced reason… hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind, and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or tyger, one of those wild savage beasts with whom men can have no society nor security.” And upon this is grounded the great law of Nature, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Second Treatise of Civil Government.

   “Moral/ethical Death Penalty Support: Christian and secular Scholars”
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-support-modern-catholic.html

   “The Death Penalty: Neither Hatred nor Revenge”
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/20/the-death-penalty-neither-hatred-nor-revenge.aspx

   “The Death Penalty: Not a Human Rights Violation”
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2006/03/20/the-death-penalty-not-a-human-rights-violation.aspx

   “Killing Equals Killing: The Amoral Confusion of Death Penalty Opponents”
   http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/02/01/murder-and-execution–very-distinct-moral-differences–new-mexico.aspx

   1) US Death Penalty Support at 80%; World Support Remains High
   http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/us-death-penalty-support-at-80-world.html

   Much more, upon request. sharpjfa@aol.com

   By: Dudley Sharp on September 28, 2012 at 9:14 pm

3. As has been a consistent message, Catholic organizations will not allow a fair, public debate on this topic.

   Why? Because they fear it.

   It speaks very poorly of the Church that they will not allow open discussion on this topic.

   By: Dudley Sharp on September 28, 2012 at 9:17 pm