The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday reinstated a two-decades-long dormant policy allowing the federal government’s use of capital punishment and immediately scheduled the executions for five death row federal inmates.
“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.
“The Justice Department upholds the rule of law – and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”
The Justice Department said it has scheduled executions for five federal inmates who have been convicted of horrific murders and sex crimes, with more planned in the future.
All five will be executed by lethal injection using a single drug: pentobarbital.
The federal inmates include Daniel Lewis Lee, a white supremacist who was convicted in Arkansas for murdering a family of three, including an 8-year-old girl.
Another is Lezmond Mitchell, a Native American who was found guilty by a jury in Arizona of stabbing a 63-year-old grandmother and forcing her young granddaughter to sit next to her lifeless body on a car journey before slitting the girl’s throat.
The other three inmates who will be executed are Wesley Ira Purkey, who raped and murdered a teenaged girl; Alfred Bourgeois, who sexually molested and killed his young daughter; and Dustin Lee Honken, who shot and killed five people.
Lee will be the first one to be executed, with the date set for Dec. 9, 2019.
Full story at Reuters.
The sin of the death penalty–a relict of the culture of death–is bipartisan, folks. Both parties are guilty. Our Lord has denounced “eye for an eye”. It’s not justice at all, but a gross violation of the dignity of ALL human life. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
As a prolife practicing Roman Catholic it saddens me greatly that the death penalty is being implemented in the USA. It is a sin against God and humanity.
I.ve read a couple of places — no, I can’t cite specific sources — that financially it is cheaper to incarcerate someone for life than to spend money for numerous appeals on both sides.
I suspect the use of a ‘new’ method will generate more appeals.
Will the sudden enthusiasm for executions disappear if a new administration wins the 2020 election?
Give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar. The USA has laws that the Catholic Church cannot interfere with. Death penalty is very different from killing newborns in New York and Virginia or having Doctors, Nurses and even ignorant Physician Assitants arrange suicides for Euthanasia as is the law in California and Holland.
My dear friend, Cesar dosn’t get human life rendered to him. That unto Cesar, we must not ever render.
We can never win the public debate against abortion if we don’t first recognize human life in a jail cell, in a border holding cage, in families that have few choices to feed themselves. For us to claim that we are pro-life, we must truly honor respect, feed, house, and heal all life, not just a fetus. To do otherwise is simply hypocracy.
William Barr is a Roman Catholic. Shouldn’t the pastor of his parish deny him Holy Communion for overseeing the implementation of this ghastly policy which is contrary to Catholic teachings? Many have recommended the same treatment for Catholic politicians who support abortion laws.
The choice of the outcome was made by the criminal! The killer knows the consequences of the crime but chooses to commit it anyway! So, it is the criminal who has chosen his own fate.
With all due respect, Lucy, two wrongs do not a right make.
1,500 people have been subjected to the death penalty in this nation since 1973. On the other hand, that many abortions have been performed everyday before noon since 1973. It’s interesting that there are so many people who stridently oppose the death penalty yet champion abortion (like Democrats). The only way to reconcile this apparent contradiction is to recognize that opposition to the death penalty and the pro-choice position are identical insofar as they both look to give amnesty to murderers.
You’ve got your reasoning the wrong way. No, “West coast” it it not true that opposition to the death penalty and being pro-choice are identical. WRONG! A person like me opposes the death penalty and at the same time we condemn abortion because both violate the dignity of ALL human life. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
Good comment, West coast. People lose sight of the fact that murderers lose their dignity by their own hands. That’s why the Church has always advocated protection of innocent life, and not necessarily guilty life. The Church has never taught that the death penalty is inherently evil. After all, Christ died by it, and there would be no redemption without it. These comments here are something. Show me somebody who talks of the “living” Magisterium and I’ll show you somebody who seeks to change perennial teaching.
Clearly “Fast track” is unfamiliar with who or what the living Magisterium is. I suggest that “Fast track” first learn what it is before he/she goes any further in debating this important issue here. Dust off your Catechism folks. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
Fast Track, yes! — the Church has never taught that capital punishment is intrinsically evil. However, today we have two interpretations of Church teaching on this– either the traditional way, that capital punishment is morally permissible in some cases– or the recent Popes’views, that it is never permissible. #2267 in the Catechism has been left for.us to decide– but pro-life is favored.
Literally death at the hands of the state. I cannot comprehend how it is that any Christian or Catholic think this is ok, when we can’t even allow mothers to decide the fate of a few fetal cells which have never reached any notion of quickening.
To Jon: biblically,”an eye for an eye” relates to the punishment matching, but not exceeding, the damage or harm done by the perpetrator.
Tell me how a lethal injection exceeds the harm this guy did…
Lezmond Mtchell, who fatally stabbed a 63-year-old woman and forced her 9-year-old granddaughter to sit beside her lifeless body for a 30- to 40-mile drive. He then slit the girl’s throat, crushed her head with 20-pound rocks and severed and buried both victims’ heads and hands. Mitchell was found guilty in Arizona in 2003 and is set to be executed on Dec. 9.
To West coast: right on!!
Dear Peggy: Many if not all societies today have means other than the death penalty to protect itself (life without parole; maximum security prisons); and therefore for a society to choose to terminate another human life–no matter how seemingly “merciful” you think the method is (eg. lethal injection) is totally wrong, dishonors not only the life of the criminal but indeed all human life, and does HARM to society’s regard for human life. So yes Peggy, the death penalty, does harm. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
Criminologists recognize that societal protection is a wholly different objective of punishment from deterrence. Imprisonment may protect society from perpetrators of past crimes; deterrence protects society from future crimes by other potential perpetrators. It’s the duty of the justice system to correctly apply capital punishment. Capital punishment is not inherently evil in and of itself, that’s why the Church has always allowed it. Outlawing the entire concept of capital punishment is just another knee jerk socialist solution to an actual or perceived injustice in the world, like banning smoking or banning guns. Ultimately, one giant leap for mankind to place itself under global socialist control.
Sorry, but “Commentator” is wrong. Capital punishment may not be inherently evil (nobody here said it is); but NEITHER is it inherently good. And because other means to stop a criminal are now available to society (life without parole and maximum security prisons) capital punishment ceases EVEN MORE to be good. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
But the net effect of what you’re saying is that CP is in fact intrinsically evil if “other means” are available. However, the Church has never taught this. It’s your own reasoning. Where does this reasoning come from? It comes from Marxist propaganda and its effects on a secularized intellect. It does not come from perennial Church teaching. You can repeat the “living” Magisterium mantra until the cows come home, but that only works on people who will believe anything if they hear it enough times. And that’s precisely why Marxist propaganda is so effective and turns ordinary Catholics into death penalty opponents who voted for pro-abort Obama (twice, 54% of them, anyway).
Wrong Commentator. The teaching against the death penalty didn’t come from Marxist propaganda but from St. John Paul II. Consequently those who support the death penalty have–perhaps inadvertently–aligned themselves with the most oppressive and most tyrannical socialist regimes like China, the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and others. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
jon, the Catholic Church is not yours! And you are not even a priest! You always attack people– and you do not even know them! Please stick to objectively presenting your own view! Try to be kind and helpful!
Errors, especially those that contradict the clear teachings of the Church, must be corrected. This is the duty of every faithful Catholic. Letting stand a comment that is false is a disservice to others. To interpret this as “attack” is laughable. It like the progressives calling Trump a racist for drawing attention to the sorry state of affairs in Baltimore. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
jon– it is unChristian– and poor manners!– to “correct” people all the time, for what you “perceive” that they “write” or “say.” Some people are not sure of what they believe, some need more education in their Faith, and many have a hard time speaking or writing about the subject of religion! You have to know others well, to understand what they really mean! Otherwise– you will lose your wife and children, all your family and friends, and many fine people at church, too– if you are pompous and prideful, and “correct” every little thing others say, or write! “Speak the Truth with charity,” as St. Paul said!
Commentator– The Gospel is a hard truth! On some things, you have to just use your best judgement. Our Church really gives two options on capital punishment. Yes, some liberal-leftist socialists have knee-jerk reactions. What do you think of our Navy SEALS tracking down and killing Osama bin Laden in 2011??
And in this state and others there will be male rapists who will declare themselves women or want an impossible “sex change”, so they can go to a women’s prison to rape again. Nothing makes sense anymore. It seems the world has gone mad.
Clearly the patients have taken over the insane asylum.
The Catholic Church has always supported the right of the State to execute convicted criminals. Recently, the pro-life view was added– which Pope Francis highly supports. However– it seems to me, that Pope Francis is not always so quick to support pro- life, for the innocent unborn child— and he has never told his bishops to deny Holy Communion and excommunicate pro-abortion politicians!
The death penalty encourages good behavior. I would like Khalid Sheik Mohammed to receive American justice.
Gratias, do please be realistic. All human civilizations have had the death penalty since the beginning of history, and has it “encouraged good behavior”? Murders and high crimes are still with us millennia later. Right. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
jon, I doubt your honest love and respect for the lives of brutal killers on Death Row. You never show any Christian love nor respect for other good Catholics here, who wish to share their views. Pope Francis would not tolerate your unChristian behavior.
Please: defending the teachings of the Church–the Magisterium—concerning the evil of the death penalty in our time is not “unChristian behavior.” However, disobeying the teachings of the Holy Father and the bishops IS what is un-Christian and un-Catholic.
jon, Christ desires that we show love, kindness and respect for our fellowman, especially our own fellow Christians in the Church. Just make a few objective statements — don’t get personal! — don’t harass others! — you do not even know them, socially! You are not an official Church lay leader or priest! Go take official lay catechist training, if that is what you want to be!
Define “living Magisterium”.
Right: Read the Catechism.
Bless you, Peggy! The “Living Magisterium” refers to the Teaching Office of the Pope and his bishops, teaching the true Catholic Faith, as in the Catechism– or in the sacred Deposit of Faith, given by Christ to us. The true Faith, the Magisterium, is guarded by the Holy Spirit, and errant popes and clerics cannot change it or destroy it.
The shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival is on TV—- 12 wounded, 4 dead… maybe Pope St
John Paul II was naive about his belief that our civilization has “progressed” such that capital punishment is no longer necessary? I don’t know.
I just saw on TV, that there were 15 wounded– including children!– and 4 dead– including one little 6-year-old child! The police killed one suspect, and are looking for more shooters. Our country is too soft on crime– worrying too much about everyone’s “rights,” not realistic about SIN!! May God bless the poor victims!
A capital decision, barr none!
In Catholic tradition, the death penalty is as well-attested as almost any matter of ethics, and capital punishment is commanded in Scripture (Gen 9:6). Trent sanctioned capital punishment, based in part on Romans 13. It is only in modern times that the Catholic Magesterium changed– first with Pope St. John Paul II, and now to a greater degree with Pope Francis who has tangentially inferred that capital punishment is intrinsically evil. It is important to note that the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment secular thinking greatly influenced present abolitionism, that is, the moralistic rhetoric against capital punishment was voiced by those who otherwise opposed Catholic teaching. Much more to be said, but I fear my 750 letters is up.
Continued from previous: I humbly conceive that Pope John Paul II was wrong when he said reasons for the death penalty were practically non-existent. A brutal killer with a life sentence w/o parole has no incentive to avoid killing again in prison, or ordering some killed on the outside. Sadly, this happens not just in America elsewhere around the world. Also, it has been argued that human life is devalued when the ultimate sanction cannot be brought to bear on evil done. Richard Speck in the 60s killed some six student nurses and lived a life of relative luxury in prison. It made TV news. Bottom line: if Pope Francis can reverse 2000 years of tradition on this matter, he can willy-nilly reverse whatever suits him.
Let’s see what Atty. Gen. Barr might do, to protect good Americans, from these horrific massacres! The Gilroy shooter killed himself— and had to immediately face God for his terrible sins!! How about the Texas and Ohio murderers??
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