Christian Viewpoint on Why the Death Penalty Should Be Abolished
“An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth would lead to a world of the blind and toothless.” This quote from the book of Exodus in the Holy Bible summarizes how many feel about the controversial topic of the death penalty. The death penalty has declined greatly since in the 20th century and with the great racist undertones, the non-deterrence of crime and the overwhelming number of innocent people killed on death row, many people are now leaning more towards the abolishment of the death penalty. “Why the death penalty should be abolished?” essay gives a deeper analysis of this controversial issue in attempts to find answers should it be abolished or should not.
The topic of Christian faith comes of up many times in the arguments people have. Some people believe that as Christians it is okay to demand the death penalty because God says that certain crimes are punishable by death. Others believe that as Christians it is hypocritical because the ten commandments have the very specific rule of not killing. Actually, in 2015, more than 400 Catholics demanded the end of the death penalty. Heather Adams wrote what “evangelical ethicist at Mercer University,” David Gushee stated to Religion News, “Looking at Christ on the cross is a reminder to how grotesque it (capital punishment) really is.” This statement shows that many people believe that no one deserves the same types of treatment that Christ received during his execution.
The death penalty goes so strongly against the morals of the Christian society that in September of 2018 the head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis, stated the death penalty was “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” He then revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church about the teaching of the death penalty, making it to where it was no longer able to be taught about. This was a big step in the right direction for the abolish death penalty movement because if the church no longer agreed maybe others would see its faults too.
Innocent or not, the Catholic church believes the death penalty is immoral. It is hard to believe there are many people on death row that are innocent, if at all. The law enforcement can be very trustworthy, but sometimes they get it wrong. In the case of Ruben Cantu, a 17-year-old boy who was put on death row with no physical evidence he committed the crime shines light on the all too real problem of innocence on death row. Ruben Cantu’s co-defendant stated “part of me died when he died. Texas murdered an innocent man.” Back in 2000, Illinois actually stopped their death penalty because of the overwhelming numbers of people being released from death row due to innocence. The death penalty is disliked by the Catholic church and many others due to the ungodly and sometimes innocent killings of people on death row.
The word overwhelming comes to mind a lot when speaking of the innocent people on death row not only because of people being framed, but also the number of African Americans that live on death row. David Baldus, whom is the leading researcher on race and death penalty stated, “Among defendants who ranked 3 on his culpability scale, 80% of African Americans were sentenced to death while only 40% of other groups were.” Many people such as Monica Swanson from Berkley would like to argue with David Baldus by stating, “ One cannot talk about racial disparities without also addressing class bias.” Monica believes the issue with so many African Americans being on death row is more based on how much money they have to pay for good lawyers. Though both points stand strong, the racial disparity in death row is too adamant to ignore. The death penalty even started back in a time where African American’s didn’t stand a chance against the court system. The death penalty is not only racist to this day, but it was also historically racist. Now the Catholics, African Americans, and other people are no longer into the death penalty because of all the aforementioned issues.
Many people believe that the death penalty is an effective deterrent such as, econometrician Naci Mocan who stated, “each execution led to 5-6 fewer homicides.” The argument on whether the death penalty is a good deterrent is still in debate as there is no definitive way of knowing but William C. Bailey from Cleveland State University made a point by stating, “I, too, can only speculate about the deterrent effect of the celerity of executions on murder and how ignoring this factor may have led to biased reviews.” Finding whether or not the death penalty is hard without all the factors added into the research. Though some believe the death penalty is not a good deterrent because there is about the same amount crime with and without it.
The number one reason why the death penalty should be abolished is because the support for the death penalty is already declining. With Catholics not supporting it because it is ungodly and immoral and African Americans not supporting it because of its racist undertones, there is barely any support for the death penalty anymore. Baumgartner, De Boef, and Boydstun, who are writers of the book “The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence” demonstrated, “that as coverage of the death penalty became more negative support for the death penalty declined.”
The abolishment of the death penalty could be one of the greatest things that can happen to the United States because it would create more open dialogue while also keeping innocent people from being killed. The death penalty no longer existing has no actual proof it would increase crime, but it does have proof it will keep innocent people including people of color off of a list of names that need to be executed. The death penalty is a painful wait for family, friends, and victims, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Death penalty is already declining and with this decline, the courts should rid it for a safer and better United States.
