The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History - Craig Brandon.
Pope's Statement. While the vast majority of U.S. Catholics support capital punishment, Pope John Paul II has declared the Church's near total opposition to the death penalty. In his encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" (The Gospel of Life) issued March 25, 1995 after four years of consultations with the world's Roman Catholic bishops, John Paul II wrote that execution is only appropriate "in cases of absolute necessity, in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady immprovement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.
" Until this encyclical, the death penalty was viewed as sometimes permissible as a means of protecting society. The universal catechism--book of rules--for Catholics had affirmed the right of the state to punish criminals with appropriate penalties "not excluding in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty. " (46) Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2266 (47) Cf. ibid. Capital punishment in Connecticut. Capital punishment in Connecticut formerly existed as an available sanction for a criminal defendant upon conviction for the commission of a capital offense.
Since the 1976 United States Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia until Connecticut repealed capital punishment in 2012, Connecticut executed one individual, although the law allows executions to proceed for those still on death row and convicted under the previous law. Death row inmates are placed in the Connecticut Department of Correction system. The state's death row for men currently houses ten male inmates, who are incarcerated at Northern Correctional Institution in the town of Somers.
The method of execution currently utilized is lethal injection. History[edit] Between 1639 and 2005, Connecticut performed 126 executions. Current status[edit] After Furman v. Repeal[edit] On April 11, 2012, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted to repeal capital punishment for future cases (leaving past death sentences in place). List of people executed in Connecticut. This is a list of individuals executed in Connecticut, prior to the abolition of the death penalty on April 25, 2012. [1] List[edit] Notes: On this occasion, two executions took place.On this occasion, three executions took place.This is what the chart claimed in 2005, but contrary to popular belief, Adonijah Bailey was not the oldest person executed at age 79 in 1824; instead, he was tried and sentenced to death at age 80 in January 1825 for the murder of Jeremiah W.
Pollock, and hanged himself on May 24, over 2 weeks before he was to be executed.[1][2] The title of the oldest person executed goes instead to Gershon Marx, hanged on May 18, 1905, for murder at age 73.[3] Summary[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit] Death Penalty Information Center. Message Supporting a Global Moratorium on the Death Penalty.
In general, death is something none of us wants, in fact it is something we don’t even like to think about. When death takes place naturally, it is a process beyond our control to stop, but where death is willfully and deliberately brought about, it is very unfortunate. Of course, within our legal systems there […] In general, death is something none of us wants, in fact it is something we don’t even like to think about. When death takes place naturally, it is a process beyond our control to stop, but where death is willfully and deliberately brought about, it is very unfortunate. Harmful actions and their tragic consequences all have their origin in disturbing emotions and negative thoughts, and these are a state of mind, whose potential we find within all human beings. What is deemed criminal can vary greatly from country to country. The death penalty fulfills a preventive function, but it is also very clearly a form of revenge.
I believe human beings are not violent by nature. May 11, 2001 ~ Capital Punishment: Retribution or Justice? | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. BOB ABERNETHY (anchor): The fate of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh has triggered a national debate over the death penalty in the religious communities. This week, more than 65 American religious leaders asked President Bush not to execute McVeigh and to impose a moratorium on all Federal executions. Leaders of the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, Catholics Against Capital Punishment, the Quakers, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations signed a letter stating the pain of McVeigh’s victims, of their community, and of the nation “cannot be healed through the retribution of capital punishment or by vengeance.”
Last week, speaking for the U.S. Catholic Bishops, Cardinals Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and William Keeler of Baltimore reiterated the Catholic Church’s longtime opposition to capital punishment, saying executing McVeigh will not bring healing or closure. Rather, the Cardinals said, “it will be just one more killing.” REV. (to Rev. Some murder victims' kin reject capital punishment; others endorse the sanction. Richmond Times-Dispatch Some murder victims' kin reject capital punishment; others endorse the sanction BY Frank Green, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer Monday, December 22, 2003 CHESAPEAKE - Thursday evening, for the second time in a month, Robert Meyers faced the media and thanked another jury for convicting the killer of his brother.
Meyers, who was not answering questions, did not say whether he hopes Lee Boyd Malvo receives the death penalty. After the recommendation of a death sentence for Malvo's partner, John Allen Muhammad, Meyers said that although he took no joy in it, he thought execution is an appropriate punishment. Larry Meyers Jr., a nephew of Dean H. The Meyerses are not alone. Just ask Martha Cotera of Austin, Texas, whose 25-year-old son, Juan, and his 20-year-old friend, Brandon Shaw, were locked in the trunk of a car by armed, 17-year-old carjackers who drove the car into a river, where the young men drowned.
"We don't think that taking a life solves the problem," she said. Elizabeth Harvey Interview. Q: Where was Faith that night....what was she doing? Harvey: She left and went to work at the restaurant. She was covering for a girl that had covered for her while she was on her senior trip. She had final exams at school the next day. So they had swapped times. And then she went to tell some friends goodbye and went to the Lake Front Disco where one of her classmates was a disc jockey for the sound system down there that night at a fashion show. Q: What was she about to do with her life?
Harvey: She was fixing to go into the Army. Q: What kind of girl was she? Harvey: She enjoyed life very much. Q: What effect has it had on you and as a family, when something like what happened to Faith.... Harvey: It leaves a great big void. Q: When you found out what happened......? Harvey: Denial. Q: And they did? Q: Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro were captured and there was a trial. Harvey: I never saw any remorse from them. Harvey: Well it's on the books and it's the law. Q: Did he mean it? Sister Helen Prejean Interview. Q: What impact do you see the book and the film having? Prejean: One tremendous difference that the film is having is the way people are approaching it and the new possibilities we have now for debate and discussion on the death penalty that we've never had before.
Community discussion that we did in Baton Rouge... community discussion about the film Dead Man Walking. Before this film if we had sent an invitation to people to gather in a place and come talk about the death penalty, we would have been lucky if 25 people woulda showed up. But look, a whole group of people. I mean they were packed in there standing against the back wall. And I think the key difference is the film has brought them there. Q: What difference do you see the book and film making in the work you do? Prejean: The big difference is changing consciousness. Q: Are you trying to convince people? Prejean: Yeah, I mean I am. Prejean: When I met Sean, we spent a day together and went to the prison and so forth. Q: Mrs. Ernest van den Haag/Legal Scholar. Among Killers, Searching For the Worst of the Worst. Among Killers, Searching For the Worst of the Worst WASHINGTON POST December 3, 2000 Sunday, Final Edition Among Killers, Searching For the Worst of the Worst By ROBERT BLECKER* From 1986 to 1999, I wandered with extraordinary freedom inside Lorton Central prison, questioning more than a hundred street criminals, mostly murderers, to find out why they killed and to try to figure out what punishment they deserve.
It was a perfect observatory for me: As a criminal law professor and death penalty supporter who believes that our death penalty statutes need to be refined on moral grounds, I was there to interview a different kind of "expert. " Not that criminals' eyes should be our only guiding lights, but by understanding their attitudes, I believe we can better punish their acts proportionately to their evil. "You stick up a guy, and he pulls a shotgun"--I offered this all too familiar case to David "Itchy" Brooks, 62. "He's foolish," said Itchy. "I don't deserve to die, neither.
The Case Against the Death Penalty. By Hugo Adam Bedau Contents Preface Hugo Adam Bedau is Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. He has written and edited a number of books on political philosophy and on capital punishment, including Death is Different (1987) and The Death Penalty in America, 3rd edition (1982 ). He gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Henry Schwarzschild, Director Emeritus of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. The American Civil Liberties Union holds that the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantee of due process of law and the equal protection of the laws. Capital Punishment Project American Civil Liberties Union 122 Maryland Avenue, N.E. ISBN 0-86566-063-8 (c) American Civil Liberties Union Permission to reprint, with credit given to the source, is granted. Introduction Despite the Supreme Court's 1976 ruling in Gregg v.
Deterrence Actual experience establishes these conclusions beyond a reasonable doubt. Capital punishment in China. PRC authorities have recently been pursuing measures to reduce the official number of crimes punishable by death, and limit how often the death penalty is officially utilized. In 2011, the National People's Congress Standing Committee adopted an amendment to reduce the number of capital crimes from 68 to 55.[3] Later the same year, the Supreme People's Court ordered lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years and to "ensure that it only applies to a very small minority of criminals committing extremely serious crimes.”[4] Chinese cultural context[edit] During the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee it was announced that China will reduce the number of crimes subject to death penalty "step by step".[7] Legal procedure[edit] After a first trial conducted by an Intermediate people's court concludes with a death sentence, a double appeals process must follow.
However, capital punishment in China can be politically or socially influenced. Capital crimes[edit]