The Tablet May 14, 2005

Clearer Position on the Death Penalty

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On the Monday of Holy Week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops through the Committee on Domestic Policy, which I chair, launched a Catholic campaign to end the use of the death penalty. During a press conference in Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said: "You cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing; you cannot defend life by taking life." This one sentence truly sums up the Catholic teaching on the death penalty.

As the Bishops launched this campaign of public education, an interesting survey done by the Zogby Poll indicates that attitudes, especially among Catholics, have changed over the years regarding the use of the death penalty. It seems that Catholics in the poll are opposed to the death penalty by a little less that 50%, whereas in the past there was an all time high of 68% in support of it. Interpreting this change is not easy, however, the Zogby Group reported that the more often Catholics attend Mass, the less likely they are to support the use of the death penalty; that younger Catholics are less likely to support the death penalty; and that one third of Catholics who once supported its use, now oppose it.

One of the major reasons given for opposing the use of the death penalty by Catholics was respect for life. Perhaps the message of John Paul II, who consistently taught an ever-clearer Catholic position on the use of the death penalty, has gotten through to most Catholics. In 1995, in his Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," John Paul II specifically addressed the death penalty stating: "It is clear that for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: In other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."

Several years later, the late Holy Father, in an audience in Rome after his visit to Mexico and the United States, urged all in "America to accept the Gospel of life and the family, in order to reject and combat any form of violence against the human person from conception to natural death with moral consistency. 'No' to abortion and to euthanasia; enough of the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty; 'no' to racism and to the exploitation of children, women and indigenous peoples; put an end to the arms trade, to drug trafficking and to the destruction of the environmental patrimony!" The Holy Father clearly stated a consistent ethic of life on which our Catholic moral and social teachings are based.

It is not easy, however, to convince some that the death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crimes, especially homicide. Recent FBI crime reports show that murder rates in states where the death penalty is in effect has increased over 2%, while the murder rate where the death penalty is not used decreased 5%. The death penalty, unfortunately, is not a deterrent to violent crimes, while at the same time the danger of wrongful convictions is very great where poorly defended accused are more likely to receive the death penalty than those with proper defense. Also since new DNA evidence has been used to overturn murder convictions and free innocent prisoners, there is a stark reminder that our criminal justice system is not fool proof.

Recently, in March of this year, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned a lower court ruling, and outlawed the death penalty for juvenile offenders. In our own State of New York, last month, the Assembly Codes Committee voted not to send a Bill to the full house that would have re-established the death penalty in New York State. As a result, the death penalty will not be reinstated in New York in the foreseeable future.

The death penalty and its use is obviously discouraged by our teaching, and hopefully, by our practice as a society which will find appropriate means to defend itself against violence, and we need to put out into the deep of constructing a better criminal justice system, which can punish violent crimes without resorting to violence in turn.