The state of New Jersey is poised to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without parole. Read the New York Times article and CBS News report for more information.
Do you agree with New Jersey’s decision to abolish capital punishment? Why or why not?
Do you think other states should follow suit? Do you think they are likely to do so?
7 Responses to "New Jersey to Abolish Death Penalty"
Unbelievable. What are they thinking? Abolish the death penalty? Come on. Next thing, they’ll be allowing homosexuals to marry, and then almighty god will punish us be causing lots of U.S. soldiers to die on foreign soil.
How can government now carry out its god-ordained mandate to punish the evildoer? Even God has to follow the mandates of justice–he had to execute his own son to satisfy his righteous wrath.
disclaimer: (tongue firmly in cheek. Since we now have evidence that people have been wrongfully executed in the United States for crimes which they didn’t commit, we should all follow suit and abolish the death penalty nationally. Even one wrongful death is plenty of grounds for abolishing the death penatly. Course, it’ll not happen any time in the near future. As we’ve learned in Iraq, Big cultural change takes *time* and *patience*. Too bad for all the people we’ll wrongfully execute in the next 20 years).
It’s intriguing that we share the death penalty in common with all the nations we consider part of the “axis of evil”, while all of europe and the rest of north america have abolished it. Check out this map
It’s horrifying how the death penalty has been applied in the U.S., including (1) blacks who commit crimes against whites being more likely to get the death penalty than whites who commit similar crimes, and (2) people on death row having been cleared by DNA testing years after their conviction (for example, the ~23 people cleared in Illinois, that effort spearheaded by law students).
But even if the death penalty could be applied “fairly”, I think it should be abolished. IMO, no person or group of people, even in the form of a legitimate law-enforcing body, has the right to decide that another person deserves to lose his or her life, nor do they have the right to take another person’s life against his or her will. This life is the only one we each have (as far as I know) and taking it away is the end of existence (as far as I know).
(I don’t see abortion as contradicting this, but how one feels about that will depend on one’s definition of “person”.)
(And, for consistency’s sake, I really should become vegetarian again, but *darn* I like the taste of red meat!)
Capital punishment isn’t punishment - it’s savage retribution.
So, I applaud NJ’s decision to abolish capital punishment. (The comments at the CBS News site linked above point out that NJ’s last execution was in 1963, so this won’t necessarily result in fewer executions!)
I do think other states should follow suit. I think they should have done so decades ago. I think Texas, in particular, should hang its head in shame. However, I doubt other states are about to jump on the bandwagon, unless they were about to do so anyway. (They could use cost as an excuse - isn’t it said to be cheaper to keep someone in prison for life than to fight repeated appeals, & maintain an execution program?)
What should states do with/to people convicted of murder who say they want to be executed? (There was a young man like this in Washington state within the past 15 years - he got his wish, without any appeals - or at least not appeals filed with his approval.) (IMO, the state should deny the request & keep them in prison for life without possibility of parole even if that’s not what they want. Do we ask inmates for their preferences in other aspects of their punishment, and fulfill their wishes in this regard??)
Our criminal justice system has 2 stated purposed: 1) rehabilitation 2) punishment. The death penalty does not offer any chance for rehabilitation. (And as Eliza points out, it really doesn’t even fit the punishment purpose.) Even if we agreed that a person could not be rehabilitated and that they were absolutely guilty, there are many reasons NOT to utilize the death penalty:
* Even if a person “deserves” the death penalty, what about the person who has to carry out that sentence? What does that responsibility do to their humanity?
* If you do believe in an afterlife and the person does whatever they need to do before they die to go to the “good” afterlife - they aren’t punished so the sentence does not fulfill its purpose. And if they don’t, they were taken before their natural time, thus taking it out of the plan of the “higher power.” (A definite no no for most religions.)
* If you believe that everyone has sinned and that sin leads to death and that Jesus took that for us all even though no one deserves it and that people should follow Jesus example - then even if you think a person deserves the death penalty it shouldn’t be given. (Wow, that was a run-on sentence if I ever saw one!)
* Without the religious context, sometimes society gives people what they need, not what they deserve, because compassion is a part of our humanity and our community values.
I get so confused about the death penalty and Christianity. (I’ve asked enough people about it that I think I understand how Christians who are in favor of the death penalty justify it, but that doesn’t mean their justification of it makes sense to me.)
The death penalty just seems so Old Testament, so much like part of the old law abolished by Jesus’s life and death.
You know, Jesus, Mr. “Forgive everyone, accept everyone, especially the worst sinners” and Mr. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. Sister Helen Prejean seems to me to embody the approach Jesus would take to the death penalty today. As she asks, would Jesus pull the switch? As she points out, Jesus “refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence,” which is exactly what the death penalty does. And which is why I get SO confused over some Christians’ strong support for execution.
It’s intriguing that we share the death penalty in common with all the nations we consider part of the “axis of evil”, while all of europe and the rest of north america have abolished it.
Good point, Benjamin. The Europeans consider it shocking and barbaric that we still practice capital punishment. Rome plans to light up the Colosseum in celebration of the New Jersey law.
I do think other states should follow suit. I think they should have done so decades ago. I think Texas, in particular, should hang its head in shame.
I completely agree, Eliza. And I’m hopeful that public opinion about capital punishment is finally starting to change. I wonder why US citizens have progressed so much more slowly on this issue than people in other “developed nations.”
Even if a person “deserves” the death penalty, what about the person who has to carry out that sentence? What does that responsibility do to their humanity?
Staci, I saw a former corrections officer interviewed on the news last night who had carried out over 60 executions by lethal injection. He talked about the guilt, shame, and regret he feels and said that no one should be given such a task. It was also disturbing to hear him say that he has no medical training and that he did not even know the names of the various drugs he administered. Apparently this is common since the American Medical Association strongly discourages doctors from participating in executions (as they should!).
And which is why I get SO confused over some Christians’ strong support for execution.
Like so many things, the Christian position on execution seems drawn from many sources — lots of them in the Bible — but not at all from the life and teachings of the person from which that group takes its name.
Comment by: benjamin ady
1 12/17/07 7:34 PM | Comment Link |Unbelievable. What are they thinking? Abolish the death penalty? Come on. Next thing, they’ll be allowing homosexuals to marry, and then almighty god will punish us be causing lots of U.S. soldiers to die on foreign soil.
How can government now carry out its god-ordained mandate to punish the evildoer? Even God has to follow the mandates of justice–he had to execute his own son to satisfy his righteous wrath.
disclaimer: (tongue firmly in cheek. Since we now have evidence that people have been wrongfully executed in the United States for crimes which they didn’t commit, we should all follow suit and abolish the death penalty nationally. Even one wrongful death is plenty of grounds for abolishing the death penatly. Course, it’ll not happen any time in the near future. As we’ve learned in Iraq, Big cultural change takes *time* and *patience*. Too bad for all the people we’ll wrongfully execute in the next 20 years).
It’s intriguing that we share the death penalty in common with all the nations we consider part of the “axis of evil”, while all of europe and the rest of north america have abolished it. Check out this map
Comment by: Eliza
2 12/17/07 7:48 PM | Comment Link |It’s horrifying how the death penalty has been applied in the U.S., including (1) blacks who commit crimes against whites being more likely to get the death penalty than whites who commit similar crimes, and (2) people on death row having been cleared by DNA testing years after their conviction (for example, the ~23 people cleared in Illinois, that effort spearheaded by law students).
But even if the death penalty could be applied “fairly”, I think it should be abolished. IMO, no person or group of people, even in the form of a legitimate law-enforcing body, has the right to decide that another person deserves to lose his or her life, nor do they have the right to take another person’s life against his or her will. This life is the only one we each have (as far as I know) and taking it away is the end of existence (as far as I know).
(I don’t see abortion as contradicting this, but how one feels about that will depend on one’s definition of “person”.)
(And, for consistency’s sake, I really should become vegetarian again, but *darn* I like the taste of red meat!)
Capital punishment isn’t punishment - it’s savage retribution.
So, I applaud NJ’s decision to abolish capital punishment. (The comments at the CBS News site linked above point out that NJ’s last execution was in 1963, so this won’t necessarily result in fewer executions!)
I do think other states should follow suit. I think they should have done so decades ago. I think Texas, in particular, should hang its head in shame. However, I doubt other states are about to jump on the bandwagon, unless they were about to do so anyway. (They could use cost as an excuse - isn’t it said to be cheaper to keep someone in prison for life than to fight repeated appeals, & maintain an execution program?)
What should states do with/to people convicted of murder who say they want to be executed? (There was a young man like this in Washington state within the past 15 years - he got his wish, without any appeals - or at least not appeals filed with his approval.) (IMO, the state should deny the request & keep them in prison for life without possibility of parole even if that’s not what they want. Do we ask inmates for their preferences in other aspects of their punishment, and fulfill their wishes in this regard??)
Comment by: Staci
3 12/18/07 2:51 PM | Comment Link |Our criminal justice system has 2 stated purposed: 1) rehabilitation 2) punishment. The death penalty does not offer any chance for rehabilitation. (And as Eliza points out, it really doesn’t even fit the punishment purpose.) Even if we agreed that a person could not be rehabilitated and that they were absolutely guilty, there are many reasons NOT to utilize the death penalty:
* Even if a person “deserves” the death penalty, what about the person who has to carry out that sentence? What does that responsibility do to their humanity?
* If you do believe in an afterlife and the person does whatever they need to do before they die to go to the “good” afterlife - they aren’t punished so the sentence does not fulfill its purpose. And if they don’t, they were taken before their natural time, thus taking it out of the plan of the “higher power.” (A definite no no for most religions.)
* If you believe that everyone has sinned and that sin leads to death and that Jesus took that for us all even though no one deserves it and that people should follow Jesus example - then even if you think a person deserves the death penalty it shouldn’t be given. (Wow, that was a run-on sentence if I ever saw one!)
* Without the religious context, sometimes society gives people what they need, not what they deserve, because compassion is a part of our humanity and our community values.
Comment by: Eliza
4 12/18/07 8:22 PM | Comment Link |Weighing in again…
I get so confused about the death penalty and Christianity. (I’ve asked enough people about it that I think I understand how Christians who are in favor of the death penalty justify it, but that doesn’t mean their justification of it makes sense to me.)
The death penalty just seems so Old Testament, so much like part of the old law abolished by Jesus’s life and death.
You know, Jesus, Mr. “Forgive everyone, accept everyone, especially the worst sinners” and Mr. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. Sister Helen Prejean seems to me to embody the approach Jesus would take to the death penalty today. As she asks, would Jesus pull the switch? As she points out, Jesus “refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence,” which is exactly what the death penalty does. And which is why I get SO confused over some Christians’ strong support for execution.
Comment by: Rachel
5 12/18/07 8:50 PM | Comment Link |Good point, Benjamin. The Europeans consider it shocking and barbaric that we still practice capital punishment. Rome plans to light up the Colosseum in celebration of the New Jersey law.
I completely agree, Eliza. And I’m hopeful that public opinion about capital punishment is finally starting to change. I wonder why US citizens have progressed so much more slowly on this issue than people in other “developed nations.”
Staci, I saw a former corrections officer interviewed on the news last night who had carried out over 60 executions by lethal injection. He talked about the guilt, shame, and regret he feels and said that no one should be given such a task. It was also disturbing to hear him say that he has no medical training and that he did not even know the names of the various drugs he administered. Apparently this is common since the American Medical Association strongly discourages doctors from participating in executions (as they should!).
It confuses me too, Eliza.
Comment by: David H
6 12/18/07 9:23 PM | Comment Link |Like so many things, the Christian position on execution seems drawn from many sources — lots of them in the Bible — but not at all from the life and teachings of the person from which that group takes its name.
Comment by: Helen
7 12/19/07 5:35 AM | Comment Link |When my father went to the local up/rooted meeting with me last month he raised the issue of how absurd it seems to him that many American Christians support the death penalty. (He’s not a Christian, fwiw)
I agree with him.