Christians who follow Jesus’ teachings and believe in the sacrament of penance would apply the process of this sacrament before forgiveness could take place. However, it is not perhaps as simple or easy as this appears. How can a murderer demonstrate that he/she has repented? Recent cases have highlighted this dilemma. The Moores murderer Maira Hindley, and several of her supporters, have campaigned for her release after many years in jail. This was based on the claim that she had repented and served a suitable punishment. Murderers must be punished according to the law of society. Therefore, the law generally, reflects Christian values and beliefs. Punishment ideally, should lead to reform and the criminal needs to have the opportunity to prove and demonstrate this change.
Therefore, passing the death penalty is not the right of humans. Only God has the right to pass such a judgement. Putting miscarriages of justice and executing the wrong person to one side, what about the executioner? Is that person a murderer? Not in the eyes of the law. But that person is a killer all the same. God, Christians believe, will judge in the end. To be judged by society as a murderer, then executed is to be judged twice.
A murderer can not be allowed to go unpunished. The punishment, should lead to reform. The punishment can also act as a protection for society as a whole. It can also, (and incorrectly) be used as a form of retribution, or revenge. The punishment can also be used as a deterrent.
Christians believe, that the situation, or circumstances that exist to cause the crime, are the sins. “The things that come out of a person makes him spiritually unclean” for example, greed for power, the desire to rule by force, revenge, boredom, or drug addiction. Because of human nature, it would not be possible to eliminate completely the causes of crime. However, to work at reducing the circumstances that cause crime, would be wholly desirable. Using punishment as a legitimate deterrent would be one way. Incarceration of a murderer would also serve to protect society until they have been rehabilitated and have repented.
Christians believe they need to find the strength to forgive just as Jesus did when He died on the cross. Jesus was murdered and He called on, His father to forgive them. It is, by remembering such examples and believing in them, that Christians perhaps, find the strength of faith to forgive murderers. However, that does not, imply that they should go free, or not be punished in someway. Nor should the crime be erased from memory.
