October is Respect Life Month. Each year we have an opportunity to renew our prophetic commitment to promoting human dignity and sanctity of every life from conception to natural death. Human dignity is an endowment we receive from our Creator who creates us in his image and likeness. Though we can deface that dignity by our sinfulness, we cannot totally uproot or destroy it. It is not something we earn or can forfeit. It is not granted to us by a government but created in us by God. He alone is the Lord of life.
Respect Life Month is a good time to focus on an important part of our Church’s prophetic moral teaching about the sanctity of life that we often overlook or question. I am referring to the death penalty.
In recent years, we have witnessed an authentic development of the Church’s teaching on the use of the death penalty. In 1999, Saint John Paul II called for an end to the death penalty, which he described as “both cruel and unnecessary.” In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI said, “Society’s leaders should make every effort to eliminate the death penalty.” In 2018, Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church so that henceforward it reads, “The Church teaches, in 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” (CCC, 2267).
While the Church is coming to a clearer appreciation of the incongruity of the death penalty with our fundamental conviction about human dignity and the sanctity of every human life, other factors also are leading to a growing realization in society that the time has come to eliminate the death penalty.
Let’s be clear that we do acknowledge the harm done to the victims of crime and to society at large because of heinous acts of violence. We do stand for justice. We must stand with victims of crime. However, we can protect society and punish crime without resorting to the death penalty.
The use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence. Taking another life does not ultimately bring closure and peace to those who have lost a loved one through violent crime. Justice is necessary, but it is not enough. As William Shakespeare wrote, “Mercy seasons justice.” Mercy perfects justice and brings healing and closure. This is the message of the Cross and Resurrection.
For many years, we have tolerated the death penalty based on our belief that it was a deterrent to crime. The facts do not bear that out. In fact, 88 percent of criminologists do not accept this assertion. The areas of the country with the highest execution rates also have the highest crime rates. Conversely, those areas of the country with the lowest execution rates also have the lowest crime rates.
There are many other factors that we should consider. While execution is final, our system is not infallible. To date, there have been 166 exonerations of death row inmates. These often have been based on DNA evidence that was not available at the time of trial. A profile of the inmates on death row and those executed show that they are disproportionately poor, people of color and those who suffer from intellectual disabilities or mental illness. Contrary to what many believe, it is far more costly to execute a criminal than to sentence that person to life without parole.
For many years, the tide of public opinion has trended away from support of the death penalty. The number of executions has declined dramatically since 1999 and an increasing number of states are doing away with it altogether. It is certainly a cause for concern that the federal government has recently decided to begin executions again for federal crimes, something that has not occurred since 1993.
I know that in Oklahoma people are generally strongly in favor of protecting the innocent unborn from the violence of abortion. It is harder for many to understand and accept with equal conviction the Church’s teaching on the inadmissibility of the death penalty. But, there is consistency in our position based on the inviolable dignity of every person.
I encourage everyone to study this issue and to pray about it. Those interested in learning more will find valuable resources through the Catholic Mobilizing Network. These are available at catholicmobilizingnetwork.org.