The following comes from a January 7 Catholic News Agency article by Matt Hadro:
Executions in the United States fell to the lowest number in decades in 2015, and recent Popes may have helped spur the drop in public support for capital punishment.
“I think that there is continued erosion of support for the death penalty, and that’s manifested across the board,” explained Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., in an interview with CNA. The center gathers and tracks information on the death penalty in the United States.
The number of executions in the U.S. fell to 28 in 2015, continuing its overall decline since the peak of 98 in 1999. It is the lowest number in 24 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The number of death sentences also fell from 73 in 2014 to 49 in 2015, the lowest number since the 1970s when states began re-enacting death penalty statutes.
Public approval of the death penalty for convicted murderers has fallen along with the number of executions and death sentences. It peaked in 1996, according to the Pew Research Center, when 78 percent of Americans supported the death penalty for someone convicted of murder. That number has fallen to 56 percent in 2015.
And among Catholics the death penalty has similarly lost support. 53 percent of Catholics support its use now for convicted murderers, down from 59 percent in 2011. A 2004 Gallup poll showed its approval among Catholics at 66 percent.
However, the polls may not distinguish between faithful Mass-going Catholics and Catholics who do not practice their faith, Joshua Mercer, co-founder of CatholicVote.org, said. He suggested that the support for the death penalty may be significantly lower among practicing Catholics who take seriously the teaching of the Magisterium and recent papal statements against the use of capital punishment.
“Amongst Catholic voters, I think since Pope John Paul II spoke about the death penalty, we’ve seen the support for death penalty in the United States amongst faithful Catholics decline,” Mercer told CNA.
CCC 2267 “Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”
Drug lord Joachim “El Chapo” Guzman has broken loose from maximum security TWICE. Many prison breaks in the US in just the last 15 years have occurred.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prison_escapes
The prison breaks often result in lost of life and many millions of dollars in trying to capture them.
The Left is so intent in working against the death penalty and for maintaining abortion. Ironic, isn’t it??
Note the Mercer’s statement that “support for the death penalty may be significantly lower among practicing Catholics who take seriously the teaching of the Magisterium and recent papal statements against the use of capital punishment.” Take note, people.
Doctrine of the Faith – ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition’
CCC: ” 2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined,
the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty
if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor. …….”
Pete, the usual interpretation of CCC 2267 is that the death penalty is not excluded if it is THE ONLY POSSIBLE WAY of effectively defending human lives … Given the high incidence of bad death sentences based on DNA it is pretty certain that too many on death row are there because of wrongful data. We also know that there is little if any evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent to murder. If it were we would not have the hundreds on death row, we would only have a few. The Church allows execution in only the most unusual circumstances.
Bob One, you are living in the past. We do have DNA evidence today. This science has been accurate since 1988 – for the last 28 years.
Many times the threat of the “death penalty” is used as a tool to get further information to solve other crimes.
It is sinful (a lie) for any Catholic to state that the Doctrine of the Faith is against the Death Penalty. Yes there are restrictions, but it is not forbidden.
Pete and Peggy: why did you exclude from your quote of the Catechism the sentence that follows your quotes??? Namely, “If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means…” It is not right to present only the PARTIAL teaching of the Church. NOT right. Listen to the living Magisterium: Respect life!
And as Bob One points out, we must be certain of the guilt of the accused. There have been hundreds of cases proven that the guilt was not so established. If we put innocent people to death, we are to blame for their demise. Put THAT on your soul!!!
Sir, you’re not entirely in keeping with the teachings of the Church yourself, judging from your advocacy of homosexuality, warping the Church’s clear teaching on this issue. Put that on YOUR soul.
YFC –
Please provide a link documenting the “hundreds of cases” and the years in which unjust death penalties have taken place.
Let’s keep things accurate. Not emotional dribble.
You probably should include the years and numbers of appeals for each death penalty case.
jon, CCD limits the number of words permitted in a post.
That is why people use ” ….. ” so that people can look up the rest.
Didn’t you learn that in school ?
You intended to omit the rest of what the Church teaches on this issue. Fess up.
Jon, my following comments about all the prison escapees shows that “non-lethal means” are not sufficient in keeping the public safe. And, please give me the numbers of “innocent” people on death row because of DNA testing.
Finally, the total number of those executed since 1973 is far less than one day of those innocent unborn aborted.
Peggy, your reasoning is warped. So, we are going to hold on to the killing of prisoners–hanging on to this relic of the culture of death—because of the possibility of some prison escapees?? Do you hear how warped your thinking has become? Also you mention abortion. You’ve just conflated two different issues into one. How illogical, how grasping for straws!
jon, I love you but we are supposed to dialogue with fraternal charity and respect. Year of Mercy. Pope’s intentions…
Thanks for standing up for life.
Speaking up firmly and with vigor, condemning soundingly the taking of human life, IS MERCY, IS FRATERNAL CHARITY, IS RESPECT, Anonymous. Your overemphasis on “dialogue” is lost when it comes to defending HUMAN LIFE! There can be no gentility when faced with the evil of taking the life of another human being.
None of the death row inmates who have escaped have taken another life. All but one were captured. One was dead when discovered.
The number of innocent people who were on death row who have been exonerated because of DNA evidence is 20. The total number of those discovered to have been wrongly convicted currently stands at 156.
The horrific number of people murdered by abortion does not justify the killing of any other person.
What about Mexico’s famous drug dealer that keeps breaking out of prison, over and over again? What about the people he has killed? Are the lives of innocent people less equal than the lives of hard core criminals?
Ski Ven: Your reasoning is illogical. Just listen to yourself. Instead of you advocating for an end to corruption in the penal system, strengthening the prison system, better training for the prison staff, and making them accountable for their work, you’d rather society keep on killing human beings. Warped, warped. warped!
Hey, the worst of criminals are very difficult to control even for the best of prison systems. They are a constant danger to guards and other prisoners. I put the lives of prison guards, reformable prisoners, and the public at large ahead of cold blooded killers. So that makes me illogical and backwards. I guess the only logical thing to do is to allow the worst of criminals to keep preying upon innocent, Mr. Spock. How do they handle hard core criminals on Vulcan?
Your illogic there Ski Ven presumes that these hardened criminals aren’t changeable. Therefore you have revealed your doubt about God’s omnipotence and mercy. And you have given up hope (a cardinal virtue). Your illogical solution is to kill. God’s solution is that you, yes YOU, go to a prison and visit those who are there, as Our Savior have told us to do in Matthew 25.
Your logic demands that the lives of the innocent should be put at risk for the sake of the guilty. The Bible says that you should not condemn the innocent and acquit the guilty. Your logic opposes the Bible. Get behind me, Satan.
It is actually not the lifers and death row inmates who commit violent crimes in prisons, although there are exceptions.. Most violent crimes are committed by gang members or young prisoners.
Ski Ven, you have just committed an error in reasoning. NO ONE has said we should “condemn the innocent and acquit the guilty.” NO ONE! This error is called straw man argument, an flaw in logic. That is what happens Ski Ven when a person opposes Truth Himself, Jesus Christ: all reasoning, all logical, all sense is lost. Listen to the Magisterium. Respect Life!
jon, being in opposition to you is not the same as being in opposition to Jesus Christ. Stop trying to make yourself out to be God. God does not lie, like you just did. Catholic teaching does not have an unqualified ban on using the death penalty, like you are saying. Section 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church lays out conditions that must be met in order for the death penalty to be taken off the table. Those conditions have not been met. When you represent your own personal magisterium as authentic Church teaching, you lie. I will not listen to your lying magisterium. I will continue to stand up for the lives of the innocent and uphold whatever measures are necessary to keep them safe. I respect innocent life.
You are in opposition to Christ because you are in opposition to the teaching of the Magisterium, namely Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, and all of the Bishops united with them. When the Magisterium speaks, guess what, Christ speaks! Therefore you are in opposition to Christ. The other mistake you made is that John Paul II, and Benedict HAVE taught that the conditions for the discontinuation of the death penalty HAVE BEEN MET! How do we know that? Well, read their speeches, read the Evangelium Vitae, 56! YOU are very mistaken. Repent and listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
Catholics are not obligated to obey the Pope’s judgment on what to eat for breakfast or what brand of car to buy. Papal infallibility does not apply to every word that the Pope says. I am not going to let you get away with pulling a fast one. Whether or not certain conditions have been met is not a matter of dogma. It is a matter of prudential judgment. Conditions can change. Conditions are not identical for each offender, either. Dogma does not change. Dogma has traditionally allowed for the use of the death penalty. It is dishonest for you to say that those who support the death penalty are opposing Christ. I told you that I am not listening to your lying magisterium. Your are wasting your time.
” Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion, General Principles ” – Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict). ” 3. … . if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment … , he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities …. to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible …. to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about …. applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
Ski Ven, who says we should obey the Pope on what we eat for breakfast? Again, straw man argumentation. You speak of dogma: well, the dogma of the Church is that the popes and bishops have succeeded to the office of the Apostles, and Christ says whoever listens to the Apostles listens to Him whom the Father has sent. And guess what, John Paul II and Benedict in their speeches and homilies have taught an end to capital punishment.