As the remaining Boston Bomber received a death sentence for his crimes, once again I am forced to ponder the morality and effectiveness of capital punishment.
A comedian from Texas once bragged that his state has an “express lane” to the gas chamber. And, here in Utah, the Legislature just passed and our Governor signed a bill reinstating the firing squad as a means of execution. I’d venture to guess that most people are okay with capital punishment and that most people easily invoke its final solution as an appropriate and effective means to address capital offenses such as murder.
For many years, I have been one of those people. But for many years, deep down, I’ve also wondered whether I was right. With advances in technology, especially DNA science, I am more confident we can get convictions right and I’m also less confident. The more we know reminds me of everything we still have to learn. Science gets a lot of things right. But is judging a human life one of them?
Toward the end of my time in Washington I worked for a devout Catholic and perhaps the most conservative member of Congress at the time. He adamantly opposed capital punishment. He understood all of the policy arguments but, in the end, he felt a devout Catholic should cherish all human life. In fact, at the time, Pope John Paul II had just issued an encyclical letter on the value and inviolability of human life titled Evangelium vitae, or The Gospel of Life.
Most polls today show that a majority of Catholics actually favor capital punishment. But Pope John Paul II, not contradicted by subsequent popes, was unequivocal in expressing Catholic doctrine – capital punishment devalues human life. He wrote that capital punishment might be permissible “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 improvement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.” Indeed, outside of a spontaneous police shoot-out with an intractable or deranged killer, society can be defended in every instance without executing any person.
Here in Utah, where Mormons outnumber Catholics significantly, capital punishment is seen through another doctrinal lens. In fact, the Mormon Church is officially neutral on the issue. Both the Bible and Book of Mormon portray capital punishment not only approvingly but justifiably. It was often God’s word for so-and-so to kill so-and-so. In the Mormon “Guide to Scriptures” found on the Church’s official web site, under the topic of “Capital Punishment,” we find seven scriptural references – every one justifying this form of punishment. Now, admittedly, six of the seven references are set in an Old Testament context, either the Old Testament itself or the Book of Mormon before the coming of Jesus Christ. The sole Mormon reference outside of that context is from the Doctrine & Covenants (42:19) but even there Old Testament morality is being taught in that section. My point isn’t to diminish the importance of any holy work. My point is simply Christian, not Mosaic.
After many years of pondering this subject, I now stand with Pope John Paul II. Human life has an inherent divinity and dignity. Human life has meaning and it’s the same meaning whether or not a person is strong or weak, capable or disabled, in the womb or outside the womb, fully functional or incapacitated and innocent or guilty. Admittedly, I take a moral approach to capital punishment but I could express equal concerns about the accuracy of forensics or our increasingly unjust system of justice.
The standard of review in any capital punishment case should focus on personhood not objectification. Even in the most heinous of crimes, as difficult as it can be, we need to see human beings, not monsters, not devils, not even criminals. Killing, whether judicious execution or cold-blooded murder, is easier to justify when we objectify a victim. We need to always see the human being before us.
Nearly unanimously, conservatives don’t condone abortion precisely because of the dignity of human life. I think it’s time conservatives join Pope John Paul II on capital punishment and consistently extend that same reverence for the dignity of human life to all people in all situations. Capital punishment says a lot more about us than it does any criminal.
