The Death Penalty: working for consensus against it

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The Death Penalty working for consensus against
it
Committee Against the Death Penalty Florida
Catholic Conference
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We are called to end the use of the death penalty

• I renew the appeal . . . for a consensus to end
  the death penalty.
• - Pope John Paul II, January 27, 1999, St.
  Louis, Missouri
• Human life is a gift from God that is not for us
  to take away.

• Comfort and support victims and their families,
  but acknowledge that every person has God-given
  dignity, even those who have done great harm.

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Dont we, as a society, have a right of
self-defense?
The Catholic Church Catechism in 1997 declared if
"non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and
protect people's safety from the aggressor,
authority will limit itself to such means, as
these are more in keeping with the concrete
conditions of the common good and more in
conformity with the dignity of the human person.
(2267)

• The use of the death penalty cannot be justified
  when we have other ways to protect societylife
  without parole.

• Only one state (New Mexico) does not provide for
  life without parole sentences in capital cases.

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What about cost?

• Life without parole costs less than imposing the
  death penalty
• According to the Miami Herald, it costs 2 to 6
  times as much to kill one person as to
  incarcerate for life (3.2 million versus
  750,000 in Florida).

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Doesnt the death penalty deter criminals?

• There is no evidence that it is a deterrent.

• To the extent that there is any correlation, the
  incidence of violent crime is greater in states
  with the death penalty.

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Comparison of murder rates

• Chart shows data for 2005. For murder rates by
  state and year, see www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
• Average number per 100,000 in death penalty
  states is 5.3 in non-death penalty states, 2.8.
• Similar states Iowa (no d.p.)-1.3, Nebraska-2.5
  North Dakota (no d.p.)-1.1, South Dakota-2.3

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What about an eye for an eye ?

• Mainline religious denominations in the U.S.
  oppose the death penalty based on their
  understanding of this and other scripture
  passages.

• Never try to get revenge leave that, my
  friends, to Gods anger. As scripture says
  Vengeance is mineI will pay them back, the Lord
  promises. Romans 1219

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What about closure for the victims families?

• It does not release the murder victims loved
  ones from their sorrowonly forgiveness can do
  that.
• Killing the guilty does not bring back or even
  honor the dead.
• It does not ennoble the living.

"Having lost my father and grandmother to gun
violence, I well understand the deep hurt and
anger felt by the loved ones of those who have
been murdered. Yet I can't accept the judgment
that their killers deserve to be executed. This
merely perpetuates the tragic, unending cycle of
violence that destroys our hope for a decent
society." -Rev. Bernice King
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The need for vengeance diminishes us all
At the sentencing hearing Parkers daughter
argued that a life sentence would end the
familys pain. The need for vengeance diminishes
us all. Parkers son, Rick I forgive you not
for you but for me. He added he did not want to
carry the weight of Meyers crime like so many
chains.
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive We
forgive others not to excuse what theyve done,
but to refuse to allow them to keep us chained to
hate and fear.
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Application of the death penalty is deeply flawed.

• More often than we want to recognize, some
  innocent defendants have been convicted and
  sentenced to death. Justice Sandra Day OConnor,
  2001
• Our legal system discriminates against minorities
  and the poor.
• Defendants in many states get disastrous legal
  counsel unless they can afford otherwise.

• In Florida a unanimous decision by the jury is
  NOT required to recommend death.

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Execution of an innocent person is constitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it is constitutional
to execute an innocent person if they had a fair
trial (Herrera v Collins).
124 exonerated in 25 states since 1973 22
exonerated in Florida

• Did all of these people have a fair trial?

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Innocence?
List of exonerations from Death Penalty
Information Center www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
Criteria for inclusion on the list The
definition of innocence that DPIC uses in
placing defendants on the list is that they had
been convicted and sentenced to death, and
subsequently either a) their conviction was
overturned and they were acquitted at a re-trial,
or all charges were dropped or b) they were
given an absolute pardon by the governor based on
new evidence of innocence.
Read a description of each of the cases on the
DPIC website.
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Executions by year
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Zogby poll http//www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/dea
thpenalty/zogb.shtml Used with permission of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Opposition to the Use of the Death
PenaltyNovember 2004
Zogby poll http//www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/dea
thpenalty/zogb.shtml Used with permission of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Main Reasons Given for Opposition to the Use of
the Death PenaltyMarch 2005
Zogby poll http//www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/dea
thpenalty/zogb.shtml Used with permission of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Catholic Attitudes About the Death
PenaltyNovember 2004
Zogby poll http//www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/dea
thpenalty/zogb.shtml Used with permission of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Understanding of Catholic Church Teaching
Zogby poll http//www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/dea
thpenalty/zogb.shtml. Used with permission of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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National Death Row Population
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Florida Death Row Population
Florida Department of Corrections data
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We are called to end the use of the death penalty

• I renew the appeal . . . for a consensus to end
  the death penalty.
• - Pope John Paul II, January 27, 1999, St.
  Louis, Missouri
• Human life is a gift from God that is not for us
  to take away.
• Every person has God-given dignity, even those
  who have done great harm.

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What will you do?

• Would you choose to take the life of a person who
  is no longer a threat?
• As citizens, our choices and our actions matter.
  What we choose, what we do, becomes who we are.

Capital punishment is the most premeditated of
murders, to which no criminals deed, however
calculated, can be compared. For there to be an
equivalency, the death penalty would have to
punish a criminal who had warned his victim of
the date on which he would inflict a horrible
death on him and
who, from that moment onward, had confined him at
his mercy for months. Albert Camus,
Reflections on the Guillotine
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What we can do--

• Pray
• For victims of crime and their families
• For those who have been wrongly convicted
• For those awaiting execution

• Learn about Catholic teaching on the death
  penalty
• Educate people in your parish or community about
  Catholic teaching on the death penalty
• Advocate by contacting your elected officials
• Establish ministries to reach out to families of
  victims and to death row prisoners and their
  families

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Resources

• Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death
  Penalty http//www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/deathp
  enalty/index.shtml
• Scripture and the death penalty The Biblical
  Truth about Americas Death Penalty, Dale S.
  Recinella (Boston Northeastern University Press,
  2004).
• General death penalty information
  www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
• Florida death penalty information www.fadp.org
• Florida Catholic Conference www.flacathconf.orgT
  he Conference has an award-winning DVD on the
  death penalty that is available on request. It
  can be seen as a video clip on the FCC website
  under the Respect Life link.
• A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, a
  DVD from the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
  available from www.usccbpublishing.org or
  800-235-8722.

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Contacts for further information
ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI Deacon Edgardo Farias
305-762-1093 E-mail efarias_at_theadom.org DIOCES
E OF ST. AUGUSTINE Dale Recinella 904-881-7747
E-mail dale_at_iwasinprison.org DIOCESE OF
ORLANDO Thomas Gillan 407-658-1818 E-mail
tgillan_at_ccorlando.org DIOCESE OF ST.
PETERSBURG Fr. Robert Schneider
727-726-8477 E-mail frbob_at_espiritusanto.cc  
DIOCESE OF PALM BEACH Deacon Richard Moser
772-878-1215 E-mail richardmoser_at_bellsouth.net
DIOCESE OF VENICE Marina Kopko
941-484-9543 E-mail kopko_at_dioceseofvenice.org DI
OCESE OF PENSACOLA/TALLAHASSEE Thomas J. Vickers
850-386-7565 E-mail  tvickers2404_at_EarthLink.net
Florida Catholic Conference Sheila Hopkins
[phone] shopkins_at_flacathconf.org