Can a Catholic support death penalty?

[Senyorico]

I have seen an article that said that we can, citing Joe Heschmeyers’ position that the Church doesn’t prohibit us from supporting death penalty. Is he right?

P.S. For those who can answer, please cite your references because I really want to know the official policy of the Church on this matter.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Yes, but under a limited set of circumstances.

 

[goout]

What a Catholic supports is the dignity of human life as a priority. That is the good that our teaching on the death penalty points to. The death penalty is not merely for the good of punishment and justice, it serves the good of human life.

The Church teaches that in the present moment, the death penalty, when morally evaluated, is inadmissable because there are other ways to protect human beings from the danger posed by these criminals. And there are also other ways to serve justice/punishment that do not require the taking of the criminal’s life.

 

[MikeInVA]

I expect to hear this question asked a lot in the future, in elections and senate confirmation hearings.

 

[goout]

I expect to hear this question asked a lot in the future, in elections and senate confirmation hearings.

It’a a great opportunity for Catholics to demonstrate the seamless garment of life. And to demonstrate the beauty of our teaching on life, and the great good that is it’s object.

 

[MikeInVA]

It’a a great opportunity for Catholics to demonstrate the seamless garment of life.

I see it as a great opportunity to marginalize faithful Catholics in public office.

 

[goout]

goout:

It’a a great opportunity for Catholics to demonstrate the seamless garment of life.

I see it as a great opportunity to marginalize faithful Catholics in public office.

If a Catholic politician is not capable of integrating the life of the Church with public service, he/she ought to find another occupation.
It doesn’t require a bunch of nuanced rhetoric like we find here, but it does ask for courage and fidelity. That is sorely lacking among many Catholic politicians currently. And all the rest of us if we are going to be honest with ourselves.

 

[MikeInVA]

If a Catholic politician is not capable of integrating the life of the Church with public service, he/she ought to find another occupation.

Thanks for validating my assumption. Faithful Catholics need not apply.

 

[goout]

goout:

If a Catholic politician is not capable of integrating the life of the Church with public service, he/she ought to find another occupation.

Thanks for validating my assumption. Faithful Catholics need not apply.

Right, because Catholics ought to give up when incorporating the faith becomes difficult…

is that sloth or despair? you tell me…

 

[snarflemike]

I’ve never understood the “human dignity” argument. How does it serve human dignity to lock a young person in a box for 50 years?

 

[Delphinus]

I’ve never understood the “human dignity” argument. How does it serve human dignity to lock a young person in a box for 50 years?

I’ve wrestled with this too. My good friend then started working in prisons and he made a great point. There are a lot of programs available to people who are in prison. Education, hobbies, trade schools opportunities, etc. People in prison can write, create, and still work to change themselves and contribute to the world. To execute them stamps out any chance of change and repentance, which God greatly desires for all his children. That person can also, even in a very restrictive box, find God and grow in relationship to Him which, in truth, is the most beautiful thing any of us can do with our lives.

Catholics are free to support the death penalty in very extreme cases. I’m a fan of post-apocalyptic genre stories, so I’ll use that as an example. Say a band of survivors are scraping a living in a hostile world. One of their members loses their touch with reality or gives in to stealing and murdering other members of the community to survive. There is no safe way to keep that person from harming others and no reliable way to exile them in a way where they cannot come back and kill more innocent people. In that case, a humane execution with the full sorrow that it’s snuffing out a light God has created because there is simply no other choice is acceptable.

Pope Francis argues that in modern and developed countries as things are, we can reasonably and reliably house people who are dangerous and work towards reform in their lives, so that is the route we should take now.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Only in very limited circumstances, such as there being no good alternative to putting someone to death in order to protect society.

And that’s pretty much what the Church has taught for a long time even before the latest Catechism revision.

The mass murderer’s life is as valuable to God as the unborn baby’s life.

 

[snarflemike]

I’m pretty neutral on the whole question, so I just throw this out for the sake of argument. I have heard it said that there is nothing that can focus the mind on repentance like the knowledge that you will be executed in a week.

 

[dconklin]

supporting death penalty

How does someone support the DP?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

How does someone support the DP?

You vote for politicians that support it. If you are a prosecutor you might argue for it, if you are a judge you might issue death sentences, if you are a governor you might refuse clemency, and if you are a juror you might vote for it.

You might also go around vocally stating that you support the death penalty, and you hope so-and-so gets the death penalty, and maybe when he is getting executed you go down to the prison and participate in the party on the lawn cheering because he’s getting killed.

 

[dconklin]

when he is getting executed you go down to the prison and participate in the party on the lawn cheering because he’s getting killed

Yikes! I’m guessing Catholics shouldn’t be doing that. Is the DP still a political issue since it is already law?

 

[KMG]

Yes. The death penalty is not intrinsically evil. A Catholic may support capital punishment, as the perennial teaching of the Church has always made clear.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s still political because, although many states have abolished the death penalty, and a bunch more states have it on the books but never put anyone to death, we still have several states where they have it on the books AND put people to death, sometimes frequently. There is also a Federal death penalty still on the books and in occasional use.

The issue has also come up when a state that abolished the death penalty suddenly has someone commit a super heinous crime there and a lot of people would like to execute him but can’t.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I actually ended up against the death penalty on logical, not moral, grounds. I was not sure how I felt about it morally, especially given the era when they were letting a lot of pretty bad criminals out of prison who ended up reoffending in even worse ways. I could see how people would want the death penalty just to make absolutely sure that Joe Serialkiller wasn’t going to be out on the street again in 10 years terrorizing somebody else. Which is the main reason most people support the death penalty. They don’t trust the system to keep the guy locked up.

But when I saw how messed up the death penalty process was in USA and how people who should probably have gotten death would be let go while somebody else who was likely either innocent or undeserving would get death, there was just no way to enforce it in a perfectly fair and error-free way, and all the required appeals cost a huge amount of money and resources. I am reasonably certain we have already executed quite a few innocent people despite all that expenditure.

Prison technology has also evolved. Life without parole (LWOP) these days usually means LWOP, in USA. (Not so much in Europe, where you have situations like the “Monster of Worcester” being let out on parole.)

Therefore, there was no logical reason to support the DP, so I stopped. Fortunately, the Church agrees with my position, so I didn’t have to think too hard about the morality angle.

 

[Hodos]

If he takes a scriptural view of the death penalty, then yes, of course.