Andy Warhol The Death Penalty A Catholic Perspective Alyosha.com The Death Penalty A Catholic Perspective Presented by Nina Butorac

Andy Warhol The Death PenaltyA Catholic Perspective

Alyosha.com

The Death PenaltyA Catholic Perspective

Presented by

Nina Butorac


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The Purpose of Punishment

• Retribution• Deterrence• Security (Defense against the criminal)• Rehabilitation

“Punishment, since it involves the deliberate infliction of evil against another, is always in need of justification."

U.S. Council of Bishops, 1980

In Catholic tradition, the justifications for punishment are fourfold:


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Retribution• Restoring to right order, or restoring the good.

– After an evil action, there should be a restoration of balance and order in society.

• Restitution to the victim may be required of the criminal who steals,

for example.

– Retribution does not mean vindication or revenge.• These actions are sinful in nature.

– Lex Talionis, or an “eye for an eye” from the biblical tradition of Mosaic Law, appeals to this restoration of the good.

“That Cain was not killed, but bore in the sight of all men a mark of reprobation is, in any case, the lesson we should draw from the Old Testament.“

- Albert Camus


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Lex Talionis• Prescribes a sense of balance in the imposition

of a just punishment.• By metering out a fit punishment for the

severity of the crime, it restores order.• Lex Talionis admits limitations in punishment.

– We cannot justify brutality for brutality, rape for rape, torture for torture.

Lex Talionis “was an attempt to curb the spirit of vindication among God's people who would have sought to punish the guilty sevenfold by plucking out both eyes and knocking out several teeth… the law of talion does not command but limits revenge."

Bishop Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap


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Is Deterrence Effective?

• In order to act as a deterrent, executions must be:– Swift and certain.

• These criteria can also lead to an abuse of civil rights. • Which, in turn, would lead to an increase in the number of

innocent people executed.

– Broadcast to the population.• We would have to implement televised executions.

If deterrence is going to be your justification for the death penalty, then ask yourselves why you are appalled at the idea of public executions?


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Deterrence as Moral Criteria• The deterring factor is uncertain.

• Research neither supports or refutes the deterring factor of capital punishment.

• Deterrence is an appeal to Utilitarian Ethics.• Catholic moral teaching does not accept the utilitarian method (if it

works it must be good) as the sole basis for moral judgment.

• Catholic moral teaching is based upon human dignity.• Our just response to every human person, who is created in the

image of God.

“Life is a gift that the Lord has given us, and we must protect it from conception until natural death… God has given us life, and only can God take it away … the death sentence is not a natural death.”

Cardinal Renato Martino,

President of the Pontifical Council

for Justice and Peace


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Security of Society

• The Death Penalty is 100% effective in protecting society against the criminal, and any further

criminal action he might take. • The Church recognizes the authority of the State

to implement the death penalty.

But is it still necessary?

“It is in no way contrary to the commandment ‘thou shalt not kill' … for the representative of the State's authority to put criminals to death.“

St. Agustine


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Security and Necessity• Improved penal systems.

– We are able to secure society through improved, maximum security prisons.

• The Catechism was rewritten to emphasize this teaching:– "If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an

aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they correspond to the concrete conditions of the Common Good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person."

"The Death penalty is only appropriate in cases of absolute necessity, in other words, when it could not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are rare, if not practically non-existent."

Evangelium Vitae Pope John

Paul II


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Rehabilitation - Historically• In the past, the death penalty was used as a religious

punishment.

– Even the worst criminal examined his own conscience when faced with the actuality of execution. He repented, and accepted a penance (even a penance of death imposed on him by the legitimate power of the State) which prepared him for God's perfect judgment.

– The authority of the State, sanctioned by the Church, is to execute the criminal with love and hope of redemption. But for this practice to be truly authentic, the society must believe in the existence of a transcendent order of justice, which the State has an obligation to protect.

“Belief in the immortality of the soul has permitted Catholicism to formulate the problem of Capital Punishment in very different terms, and justify it.”

- Albert Camus


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Rehabilitation - Today• Rehabilitation, as the word is used today, has no

part in the Death Penalty's justification.

– Today, the State is generally viewed simply as an instrument of the will of the governed. In this modern perspective, the death penalty expresses, not the divine judgment on objective evil, but rather the collective anger of the group, as a self-assertive act of vengeance, which is always sinful.

“But what does such a justification mean to the society we live in, a society which in its institutions and manners alike has become almost entirely secular? When an atheist – or skeptic – or agnostic judge imposes the death penalty on an unbelieving criminal, he is pronouncing a definitive punishment that cannot be revised. He sits upon God's throne, but without possessing God's powers and, moreover, without believing in them.”

- Albert Camus


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Restoring the Good

• Punishment should be used to restore order and good in society.

• Punishment must not impose too great an evil on the wrongdoer.

• What are the evils of Capital Punishment?

“Execution is the opposite of baptism into a community. Baptism into a community means `We are all connected, we are all one family and you are part of us.' And execution is removing a person from the human family, step by step, saying, `You are no longer part of us. You are not human, like we are, and so we can terminate you."

Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ


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Evils of the Death Penalty• Capital Punishment is irrevocable.

– Mistakes can be made against the innocent. Recent DNA studies show that instances of innocent people being executed is as high as 15%.

• Justice is not sure.– Imposition of the death penalty is racially biased.

• Causes great anguish.– Not only for the condemned, but for their families, and for those

who must carry out the sentence.

• Whets the appetite for revenge, not justice, and begets violence.

– Studies show a substantial increase in violent crimes following a highly publicized execution.

• Fosters a casual attitude toward death.– For some, the notion that we can lawfully kill in some instances,

cheapens the value of life in all instances and in all forms.

"Among the individuals and groups against legalized abortion in the United States, there are some who support the continuation of capital punishment. This is an inconsistency and an unacceptable contradiction.”

Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini


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A Despairing Act• The Death Penalty is an act of despair.

– We admit a sense of lost hope for the criminal we condemn to death.

– We despair of the very rehabilitative ends we use to justify our action.

– When we surrender to hopelessness, it's not only the criminal's ability to change and make retribution for his crime that we reject, but we reject the very action of grace in the life of the condemned.

… And that should be very troubling to us.


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Conclusion• Life and freedom are the gifts we receive from our Creator, and

they are the quintessential qualities of our human dignity. – This is the underlying truth that sustains Catholic moral teaching. The

consistent ethic of life, which Cardinal Bernardin advocated, is based on this concept of human dignity, that every human life is sacred and inviolable.

• For the sake of the security of society, we may revoke certain freedoms and incarcerate criminals. We may punish by bloodless means.

• But for the sake of human dignity, and in the hope of redemption and grace, we ought not to take human life; not even the guiltiest.

“The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.”

Pope John Paul II


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BibliographyA Call for the Abolition of the Death Penalty: A Statement by the

Washington State Catholic Conference, 1998 – Archbishop Alex J. Brunett, Bishop William S. Skylstad, Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla Official Statement of Washington State Bishops

U.S. Catholic Bishops' Statement on Capital Punishment – U.S. Catholic Conference 1980 Official Statement of U.S. Bishops

The Pope's Statement – From Evangelium Vitae – Pope John Paul II, 1995 Encyclical Statement from John Paul II

The Death Penalty in Our Time – Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, 1985 The Paramount U.S. Catholic Statement against the Death Penalty, from which arises the "consistent ethic of life" and "seamless garment" positions.

Catholicism and Capital Punishment – Avery Cardinal Dulles Catholic-Historical-Conservative Perspective

Witness to Life: The Catholic Church and the Death Penalty – Cardinal Roger Mahoney Current Reflections in Light of Statement by JPII

Take the Higher Road – Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua Brief article outlining traditional teachings and new perspectives

The Gospel of Life vrs. The Death Penalty – Most Rev. Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap. 1999 Excellent synthesis of current Catholic thought

FRONTLINE: Angel on Death Row (Interview Script) – Sister Helen Prejean. C.S.J. Script of Frontline Production

A Catholic Lawyer Argues Against the Death Penalty – Kevin Doyle Personal Reflections-Sociologicial-Experiencial

Marianist Social Justice Collaborative Death Penalty Issue Team Proposal – Marianists Marianist Perspective and Proposal Against the Death Penalty

Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Reflections on the Guillotine – Albert Camus, 1957 Secular Position Against the Death Penalty, with Insights into the Catholic Perspective

Declaration of Life – That the Death Penalty not be Sought in the Event of My Violent Death Link

http://www.quaker.org/declaration-of-life.html

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Andy Warhol The Death Penalty A Catholic Perspective Alyosha.com The Death Penalty A Catholic Perspective Presented by Nina Butorac