NOV. 7, 2005

DEATH PENALTY
Catholic bishops leading new push for change

U.S. Catholic bishops say they want to "seize a new moment and new momentum" in their 25-year campaign against capital punishment. They're set to approve a new statement urging an end to the death penalty at their Nov. 14-17 meeting at a time when advocates on both sides of the issue say that opinions are more in flux than they have been in years. While support for the death penalty has remained fairly steady - about seven in 10 Americans support it - many see the possibility of change in a collision of factors:

Several developments have shaken public support for the death penalty:
• A sharp decrease in overall crime rates in the past decade
• Increasing recognition of the role race plays in the convictions of murder defendants
• DNA testing, which has exonerated a number of death row inmates and raised concern that innocent people could be executed
• Research that has cast doubt on whether capital punishment acts as a deterrent to murder.

The U.S. Supreme Court has five death penalty cases before it at a time when:
• It recently abolished the death penalty for mentally retarded (2002) and for juvenile offenders (2005).
• The makeup of the court is changing. John Roberts was recently confirmed as the new chief justice, and another conservative jurist and former prosecutor, Samuel Alito, was just nominated to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Many of the court's recent death penalty rulings have been 5-4 decisions, with O'Connor playing a pivotal role in questioning capital punishment. If Alito is confirmed, five of the nine justices would be Catholic: Roberts, Alito, Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Kennedy has voted to curtail capital punishment, while Scalia and Thomas have supported its use, even for minors.

There is new evidence that the country's religious groups may be influencing opinions.
• A 2005 Zogby poll showed that for the first time, Catholics are almost evenly divided on capital punishment. While other surveys have not shown such a marked shift, they do demonstrate that regular churchgoers across the denominations are significantly less likely to support the death penalty.
• Catholics are the largest single denomination, with more than 65 million baptized Catholics in the United States, and their prominence and influence make them a potent voice on societal issues. Catholic bishops and ethicists also have taken a leading role in public debates on ethical issues such as war, bioethics and abortion. Catholics are significantly less likely than most Protestants to support the death penalty. Evangelical Protestants, who represent another large and influential religious viewpoint, strongly support the death penalty.

Politically, the death penalty has become volatile in unexpected ways:
• In May 2005, Connecticut executed serial killer Michael Ross, the first execution in New England in 45 years.
• In 2005, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney introduced a bill to reinstate the death penalty in the liberal-minded state for the first time since 1984.
• In Virginia, a state with strong support for capital punishment, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine was making a strong showing in the race for governor in November 2005, even though he was against the death penalty, an opposition he based on his Catholic faith.
• New York and Kansas' death penalty statutes were declared unconstitutional in 2004; Kansas' is before the U.S. Supreme Court. Thirty-six other states have death penalty statutes on the books, but two, Maryland and Illinois, have declared moratoriums out of concerns about fairness. Several other states are pondering similar actions.

Why it matters

Increasingly, public officials are being asked to explain their policies through the lens of their faith, which is causing greater scrutiny both for politicians and for the doctrines of religion. Given the developing religious positions on capital punishment and evolving social mores that affect judicial and political decisions, the death penalty debate is a classic example of the impact of religion in the public square.

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

Jump to:
National sources
Legal background
Religious background
Other background

National sources

FOR
• The Rev. Richard Cizik is vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, which supports the death penalty. Contact 202-789-1011, RCizik@nae.net.
• The Rev. D. James Kennedy is the head of Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and a leading voice among conservative evangelicals. He is also an outspoken supporter of the death penalty and founder of the Center for Reclaiming America, the public policy arm of Coral Ridge. Contact through the Center at 877-725-8872, or cfra@coralridge.org.
• John McAdams is a political scientist at Marquette University and has written that he favors capital punishment, even if it doesn't work as a deterrent. Contact 414-288-3425, john.mcadams@marquette.edu.
• Hayes Wicker is senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Naples, Fla., and chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention committee that authored a resolution in support of the death penalty. Contact 239-596-8600, FBCN@FBCN.org.
• The pro-death penalty Justice For All is a victims' rights organization based in Houston. The organization also maintains Pro-Death Penalty, a resource site that lists information about victims, and murdervictims.com. Dianne Clements is president. Contact 713-935-9300, voice pager 713-508-6979, cell 281-435-7348, info@jfa.net. Dudley Sharp is death penalty resource director for Justice For All. Contact sharpjfa@aol.com.
• Michael Rushford is president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, based in Sacramento, Calif., which supports the death penalty for juveniles above age 16. Contact 916-446-0345, rushford@cjlf.org.

AGAINST
• Steven W. Hawkins is executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Contact 202-543-9577, shawkins@ncadp.org.
• Richard Dieter is executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment and tracks recent developments in juvenile death penalty rulings, as well as legislation on the death penalty. Contact 202-293-6970.
• Edwin Colfax is executive director of the Death Penalty Education Project, which is dedicated to educating the public about serious flaws in Illinois' system of capital punishment. DPEP is a joint project of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of the Northwestern University School of Law, the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Chicago Law School and The Justice Project, based in Washington. Contact 312-467-1391 or 312-503-2391, e-colfax@law.northwestern.edu.
• James E. Coleman Jr. is a law professor at Duke University in Durham, N.C., and chairs the American Bar Association's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. Contact 919-613-7057, jcoleman@law.duke.edu. Deborah T. Fleischaker directs the project. Contact 202-662-1595, fleischd@staff.abanet.org.
• Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn is director of Amnesty International's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty. Contact her through Jen Corlew, 202-544-0200 ext. 302, jcorlew@aiusa.org. Amnesty International also sponsors an annual Faith in Action weekend to abolish the death penalty. Contact khoule@aiusa.org.
• Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation is a leading organization of relatives of murder victims who oppose capital punishment. Executive Director Robert Deans is based in Alexandria, Va. Contact 703-721-1888, jrdeans@mvfr.org.
• Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty is a project of the American Friends Service Committee. The group posts the statements of 32 religious groups. Contact 215-241-7130.

ACADEMIC SOURCES
• Harold W. Attridge is dean of Yale University Divinity School and a professor of New Testament. He is the author of The Bible and the Death Penalty (due in 2006 from Yale University Press). Contact 203-432-5304, harold.attridge@yale.edu.
• James J. Megivern is an emeritus professor of religion at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. He is an expert on Christian ethics and capital punishment and is author of The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey (Paulist Press, 1997). Contact 828-883-4280, Jimmeg2@AOL.com.
• Mark Lewis Taylor is a professor of theology and culture at Princeton Theological Seminary and author of The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001). He is also a Presbyterian minister, and he opposes the death penalty. Contact 609-921-8300, mark.taylor@ptsem.edu.
• Jeffrey Fagan is a professor of law and public health at Columbia University in New York. He says judges and juries have shown a declining willingness in recent years to sentence teenage criminals to death. Contact 212-854-2624, jfagan@law.columbia.edu.
• Davison Douglas is a professor of law at the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law. He wrote "God and the Executioner: The Influence of Western Religion on the Death Penalty" for the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. He noted the difference in attitudes between the pulpit and the pew and suggested that the fate of the death penalty in America will probably be decided in the realm of the secular, not the sacred. Contact 757-221-3853, dmdoug@wm.edu.
• Lloyd Steffen is a professor of religion studies and university chaplain at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Executing Justice: The Moral Meaning of the Death Penalty (Pilgrim Press, 1999). Contact 610-758-3353 or 610-758-3877, lhs1@lehigh.edu.
• Herbert H. Haines is a professor of sociology at the State University of New York, College at Cortland. He studies social movements for criminal justice reform and is the author of Against Capital Punishment: The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994 (Oxford University Press, 1999). Contact 607-753-2472, haines@cortland.edu.
• The Rev. Robert F. Drinan, S.J., is a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. He wrote "Will Religious Teachings and International Law End Capital Punishment?" for the St. Mary's Law Journal. Contact 202-662-9073, drinan@law.georgetown.edu.

Legal background

SUPREME COURT

CURRENT CASES
See Northwestern University's Medill resource pages, including background and attorney information, on these death penalty cases currently before the Supreme Court:
• Brown v. Sanders, about the doctrine of "harmless error" during the review of a death sentence. Oral arguments took place Oct. 11, 2005.
• Kansas v. Marsh, about the constitutionality of Kansas' death penalty law. Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 7, 2005.
• Oregon v. Guzek, about the right to put forward evidence of innocence during the penalty phase of a trial. Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 7, 2005.
• House v. Bell, about the standard of evidence needed for a new claim of innocence. Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 11, 2006.
• Holmes v. South Carolina, about the right of a defendant to present evidence that another person is guilty.

The Death Penalty Information Center tracks Supreme Court action, arguments and decisions on death penalty cases.

PAST CASES
• In 1972, in the culmination of a series of rulings, the United States Supreme Court effectively barred capital punishment, which was on the books in 40 states.
• In 1976, the high court ruled that several new statutes were constitutional and that the death penalty itself was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment. That effectively reinstated the use of capital punishment.
• In 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Thompson v. Oklahoma that it was unconstitutional to execute anyone for crimes committed under age 16.
• In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in Stanford v. Kentucky ruled that executing people who committed crimes at the age of 16 or 17 did not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
• In 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court abolished execution of the mentally retarded, ruling June 20 in Atkins v. Virginia that it was cruel and unusual punishment.
• In March 2005 the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders in Roper v. Simmons. The majority ruled that the death penalty for minors is cruel and unusual punishment, and in the decision cited a "national consensus" against the practice. The decision overturned a 1989 ruling that had upheld the death penalty for offenders as young as 16 and 17 years old.
• Read a timeline of important events in the history of the death penalty in this country. It is posted by the Clark County, Indiana, prosecuting attorney's office.

STATE LAWS
• See state-by-state reports on statistics and action on death penalty issues from the American Bar Association's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project.
• See changes in state laws from 2000 to 2005, posted by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Religious background

GENERAL
• The Pew Forum posts a collection of essays and excerpts from theological writings on the death penalty from a variety of faith traditions. The essays, from a July 2002 conference, were collected into a volume, Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning, part of The Eerdmans Religion, Ethics and Public Life Series. The volume has the writings of 21 contributors representing a range of religious traditions. It also has a policy page dedicated to death penalty resources.
• Religioustolerance.org offers a snapshot of where mainstream religious denominations stand on the death penalty.
• Speaking of Faith, on American Public Media radio, has a web page on its April 14, 2005, broadcast on the death penalty in America.
• The Theology Library at Spring Hill College in Alabama posts articles on religion and the death penalty.

REASONING
American religious attitudes toward the death penalty are largely formed by the Judeo-Christian ethic, which is based on citations from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, as well as rabbinic and Christian tradition. However, religious leaders and adherents cite Scripture and tradition to back different views. Here are some of the references often cited in the debates:
• The so-called lex talionis, the "eye for an eye" law of ancient Judaism, is cited by those who support capital punishment.
• The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is cited by opponents of the death penalty.
• In Genesis 9:6, God says to Noah: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image." This is seen as a justification for the death penalty.
• The episode in the Gospel of John (chapter eight) in which Jesus defends the woman caught in adultery is cited by some Christians as showing that Jesus set aside the death penalty as a justifiable punishment.
• Christian supporters of capital punishment also cite the words of the Apostle Paul in Chapter 13 of the New Testament Epistle to the Romans, in which he states that the Christians must be subject to secular authorities because "those that exist have been instituted by God." He also says that authorities justly "bear the sword."

CHRISTIAN

FOR
• The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, supports capital punishment. Read a 2000 statement and a Baptist Press report on the SBC's endorsement of the death penalty.
• The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 52 denominations, para-church ministries and others, supports the death penalty. Read a statement.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that capital punishment is an appropriate penalty for murder, but only after a civil trial. Read a church statement posted by Brigham Young University.
• The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod supports the death penalty. Read a statement.

AGAINST
• The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in March 2005 launched the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. The campaign has a fact sheet, statements from Catholic conferences and officials broken down by state and region, and statements on church teaching on the death penalty from the Vatican. The site also has links to various amicus briefs filed by the Catholic hierarchy.
• The National Council of Churches of Christ called for a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000. Contact president Robert Edgar, 212-870-2227.
• The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination, opposes the death penalty. Read its 2000 statement.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America opposes the death penalty. Read its 1991 statement.
• The American Baptists oppose the death penalty. Read their 1990 affirmation of this position.
• The Presbyterian Church (USA) called for a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000.
• The Orthodox Church in America supports abolition of the death penalty. Read its 1989 statement.
• The Episcopal Church has opposed the death penalty since 1958. Read its 1979 affirmation.

NON-CHRISTIAN
• Reform Judaism opposes the death penalty. See a web page from the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism with a link to its position statement and other resources.
• The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations called for a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000 so the fairness of the way it is applied could be reviewed, though it noted that traditional Judaism generally condones the death penalty.
• Read an essay on Islam's view of the death penalty by the editor of Minaret magazine. It's posted on Beliefnet.com.

Other background

POLLS
• A Zogby International survey released in March 2005 as part of the Catholic campaign showed found that less than half of Catholic adults polled (48 percent) supported the use of the death penalty, down from a high of 68 percent. At the same time, 47 percent said they oppose capital punishment. The survey also noted that the percentage of Catholics who are intensely supportive of the death penalty has been halved, from a high of 40 percent in past polls to 20 percent in the Zogby poll. More frequent Mass-goers tended to be significantly less likely to support capital punishment.
• The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has a policy page dedicated to death penalty resources, including a July 2005 Pew Forum survey that includes questions on the death penalty, broken down by religious belief. The poll shows that 68 percent of Americans support the death penalty for people convicted of murder, but that figure is down from 74 percent in 1999. In addition, white Protestants favor capital punishment more than white Catholics by a margin of 80 percent to 66 percent.
• The Gallup Poll has extensive surveys on attitudes toward the death penalty, dating back to 1936. A Nov. 16, 2004, roundup of the trends, "Who Supports the Death Penalty?" by Joseph Carroll, Gallup Poll assistant editor, has a useful analysis and a breakdown of attitudes by religion and church attendance. Also, an October 2005 Gallup Poll found that 64 percent of Americans favored the death penalty for those convicted of murder. The last time the poll found a lower support was in 1978, when 62 percent favored the death penalty. The high point for public endorsement of the death penalty came in 1994, when 80 percent supported capital punishment. Read Gallup Polls on capital punishment from 1937 through the current year, posted by the Clark County, Indiana, prosecuting attorney's office.

RESOURCES
• The Pew Forum has a policy page dedicated to death penalty resources.
• Read Death Row U.S.A. Summer 2005, the quarterly report of the Criminal Justice Project of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
• The Death Penalty Information Center in Washington reported in December 2004 that both the number of executions and new death-penalty sentences are dropping. The DPIC said the number of people sentenced to death annually has dropped by 50 percent since 1999. In addition, the number of inmates on death row fell slightly, from 3,504 in 2003 to 3,471 in 2004. Executions fell by 10 percent, from 65 in 2003 to 59 in 2004.
• The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty offers a list of anti-death penalty groups around the nation.
• Justice For All is a pro-death penalty organization that offers a list of other such organizations around the country.

ARTICLES
• Read a Stateline.org April 2005 backgrounder that finds evidence of a decline in the use of the death penalty through federal and state court and legislative actions. It includes links to critical U.S. Supreme Court rulings since 1972.
• Read an Oct. 26, 2005, United Press International story about how changes in the revised Patriot Act legislation could expand federal use of the death penalty. The article is posted by Beliefnet.com.
• Read an Oct. 31, 2005, Washington Post story about Timothy M. Kaine's faith-based opposition to capital punishment and his gubernatorial campaign in Virginia.
• Read a May 2002 article by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, "God's Justice and Ours," in the journal First Things. In the article, Scalia, a Catholic, argues against the church's increasingly stringent teaching against the death penalty.
• Read an Oct. 19, 2005, column, "What does the Church teach on the death penalty?" by Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, which outlines the church's opposition to the death penalty.