THE REALITY OF THE DEATH PENALTY

JOURNAL QUESTION: What do you personally believe about Capital Punishment? Is it fair? Is it unfair? Is it effective? Is it not? Explain.

Evolution of Church’s Teaching In the Old Testament certain crimes warranted the death penalty. These were: blasphemy, sorcery, murder and adultery. See John 8:3-6. Thomas Aquinas taught that for the sake of the common good, you can kill someone by capital punishment. But recently, the Church, especially in the United States, has condemned capital punishment.

Why has it changed? The constant, common truth that the Church has always held onto about capital punishment is: It is only acceptable “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor” (CCC #2267). However…these situations are “practically non-existent” today.

FOUR REASONS AGAINST IT… It violates the respect for life and human dignity Killing a criminal in “our” name diminishes all of us The use of the death penalty in our country is deeply flawed & full of mistakes We have other ways to punish criminals

Evolution of Church’s Teaching In the Old Testament certain crimes warranted the death penalty. These were: blasphemy, sorcery, murder and adultery. See John 8:3-6. Thomas Aquinas taught that for the sake of the common good, you can kill someone by capital punishment. But recently, the Church, especially in the United States, has condemned capital punishment.

ISSUES WITH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT… RIGHT TO LIFE JUSTICE EFFECT ON SOCIETY ECONOMICS DETERRANCE INEQUALITY THE FUTURE

DEAD MAN WALKING Sr. Helen is played by Susan Sarandon and Matthew Poncelet is played by Sean Penn Matthew was intimidated by an older friend Matthew died using the lethal injection Sr. Helen Prejean worked with Patrick Sonnier before his execution on April 5, 1984. Patrick committed this crime with his older brother who blamed Patrick for the murders Patrick died using the electric chair