Diverse clerics agree death penalty is wrong

Dolan, Jacobus, Berkson: Diverse clerics agree death penalty is wrong
The Capital Times

By Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, Very Rev. Russell Jacobus and Rabbi Marc E. Berkson

We are religious leaders from Wisconsin's Jewish, Protestant and Catholic faith communities. Though we speak from different traditions, we share a commitment to the common good of society and justice and compassion for all persons.

It is because of that commitment that we are united in opposing the death penalty.
On the November ballot, Wisconsin voters will confront an advisory referendum question that asks: "Should the death penalty be enacted in the state of Wisconsin for cases involving a person who is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, if the conviction is supported by DNA evidence?" We believe the answer to that question should be NO.

Accounts of murder arouse in us some of the strongest and most heated human emotions. We are angry at the evil that takes life. We grieve for the loss of innocent life, and for the suffering of families, friends and communities. And we fear for ourselves and our loved ones in a world where such violence is possible.

Such emotions are understandable. But we cannot let raw emotion determine our decision about how we, as a society, should respond to the willful and needless taking of a human life. Instead, we must look to our moral and spiritual traditions of respect for life, the pursuit of justice, and prudent acknowledgment of human fallibility. In doing so, we firmly believe that capital punishment serves neither the common good nor the ideal of equal justice for all.

Respect for life requires protecting society from those who would harm others. But respect for life also demands that, where we have a choice, we make use of non-lethal means to do so. In protecting society from those without regard for human life, we do have an alternative to capital punishment - life imprisonment.

Some argue that the death penalty shows the value we put on the victim's life. But can we teach that killing is wrong by killing those who have killed others? Is not the very idea self-contradictory? The solution to violence is not more violence.

Although we can do our best to remove error and bias, no human system of justice can be perfect. As long as there is capital punishment, there is the risk of executing an innocent person - an error that cannot be corrected. Many persons have been released from death row when errors that led to their wrongful conviction have been brought to light.

Even if a person is rightfully convicted of murder, the sentence imposed on that person may not be just or equitable. Some may feel that it is the most vicious or violent murderers who deserve the death penalty. But all too often, the wealth of the offender, the skin color of the victim or other irrelevant factors play a greater role in determining whether a person receives a sentence of death. We are grateful that Wisconsin has not had the death penalty for over 150 years. Wisconsin is a better place as a result. We pray it will remain so.

For these reasons, we urge all voters to say NO to the death penalty on Tuesday.

This column was submitted by the Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, archbishop of Milwaukee and president, Wisconsin Catholic Conference; the Very Rev. Russell Jacobus, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac and president, Wisconsin Council of Churches; and Rabbi Marc E. Berkson, president, Wisconsin Council of Rabbis.

Published: November 4, 2006

posted by Sachin @ 3:38 PM