However, is the death penalty more of a deterrent than a life sentence? Society is brutalised by the death penalty, which increases the likelihood of murder. The American states with the highest murder rates all employ the death penalty. The fear of the death penalty does not reduce the murder rate.
The idea of retribution has its basis in Exodus 21:23-24, ‘You are to take life for life, eye for eye. When someone takes a life, the balance of justice is disturbed. Only the taking of the murderer’s life restores the balance. Just as the Evangelium Vitae states, “The fatal outcome is attributable to the aggressor whose action brought it about”.
Retribution is just another word for revenge and the emotional impulse for revenge is not a sufficient justification for invoking a system of capital punishment. Mother Teresa, stated ‘why do we kill people to show killing people is wrong? The death penalty, just extends the chain of violence. We do not allow torturing the torturer, or raping the rapist, taking the life of a murderer is a similarly inappropriate punishment.
The death penalty imposes an irrevocable sentence; once an inmate is executed nothing can be done to make amends if a mistake has been made. For every eight people executed, there has been found one person on death row who never should have been convicted. These statistics represent an intolerable risk of executing the innocent.
With the increased safeguards and appeals added to death penalty systems worldwide, the risk of innocent people being executed is extremely rare. Imprisoning innocent people is also wrong, but the judicial system cannot empty the prisons because of the minimal risk.
The capital punishment ignores the possibility of redemption. In Mark 11:25, Jesus states ‘If you hold anything against anyone, forgives him, so that your Father may forgive you your sins.’ Why then, are some people worthy of redemption while others are denied it? During Stanley Williams prison sentence, he authored books to promote peace. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize and on December 13, 2005 he was executed. The Evangelium Vitae, states that a life sentence without parole is a better alternative. “offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her behaviour and be rehabilitated”.
Others would consider that whether or not a murderer is remorseful is irrelevant. The murderer had free will. A person who commits such a crime of their own free will, should be subjected to the death penalty.
The Death Penalty saves lives, as repeat murders are eliminated. In the past a prison had a man sentenced to life without parole, since being in prison he had committed three murders. There’s no more punishment this person can receive, the death penalty is the only solution.Despite every argument in agreement with the death penalty, the church’s teaching prevails. Every human life has value, even the worst murderers should not be deprived of the value of their lives. Only god has the right to take away a life, regardless of the nature of the crime or the characteristics of the offender
