The death penalty is an issue that will be front and center once again in South Dakota as Donald Moeller and the men who killed Correctional Officer Ronald Johnson are scheduled to be executed soon. The question of the death penalty has been an issue of public debate for years. Those who we would all call "people of good will" line up on different sides of this contentious issue. I stand against the death penalty for a number of reasons:
- Everything I have read from the criminal justice sector would say that the death penalty is not a deterrent. A New York homicide detective that I saw interviewed on TV many years ago said that if death penalties worked, most crime would have ceased by now. The reasons he cited were that murders are committed in two basic settings - in an act of overwhelming anger or in a premeditated fashion. The "angry" person is not considering the consequences of their actions because of their state of mind so it really doesn't matter what the penalty is. The premeditated murderer thinks they are NEVER going to be caught even if they are sloppy in the execution of their crime.
- Death Penalty as Punishment?: This harkens back to the "eye for an eye" mentality of ancient times. Certainly, a person who has committed an intentional murder needs to be punished and segregated from the rest of society in our prison system. It could even be argued that a life-long prison sentence is even more severe than execution.
- For me, the most compelling reasons against the death penalty are moral. I believe that every person (even a murderer) is a child of God and deserves to be treated with dignity. Certainly, every precaution must be utilized to ensure the safety of correctional employees. (If I understand the news reports properly it seems that those procedures were NOT followed in the case of Ronald Johnson's murder). In almost every situation we are able to keep society and prison workers safe within the penal system so there is no compelling need for the death penalty. God's love can and does change people every day and the murderer deserves the chance to experience that love. Also, it can be argued that the execution of people by the state simply fuels the fire of violence in our culture. The state, representing all of the people, should act in ways that are more merciful and deliberate. After all, which of us wants what we truly deserve? Who could hope for heaven if God used a system of justice like ours?
God is the only one to give life and the only one to take life. Consciously, I know this to be true. But in my human weakness, I am not so compassionate. I want child molesters and child murderers to be removed from this life so they can never harm another innocent child or blame their actions on what may have happened to them as a child again. I'm not so sure imprisoning them for life punishes them. It gives them more of an opportunity to relive what they have done, which I think is a source of pleasure vs. a source of pain for them. I wonder if they will ever repent unless faced with their own mortality. I pray for wisdom with this struggle.
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
DeleteI do understand your response. There is a rage and anger that wells up in all of us especially when children are involved. That's why it's best to leave the death penalty up to God. If the courts were run on our base emotions and our desire for revenge things could quickly descend to anarchy.
Anyway, I hope you'll keep praying for all of God's children - even those child molesters and rapists and murderers. We all have to face the judgement seat of God someday and I want to get there as a person who has sown mercy. In yesterday's (Thursday) Gospel, Jesus says to His disciples "The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you."