April 6, 2013 – Catechism 2258 - 2267

I understand that Catholics can be in favor of the death penalty, but I am not.  If you look at the reasoning that is given when it should be allowed, it is only if you are absolutely certain the person is guilty and there is no other way to prevent them from causing harm again.  The latter reason, I just don’t see ever being there.  We have prisons that can securely house people for their entire lives and the chances of escape, accept in the movies, is very remote.  Finding that a person is actually guilty is also something that I have a hard time with.  I know there are cases where it is overly obvious that a person has committed a crime that they are eligible for the death penalty.  But for every case like that, there are many where the suspect may not be as obvious.  I am involved in the court system and know that guilty people go free and innocent people go to jail.  Even though our system is one of the best, mistakes are made and death is something that should not be allowed as a punishment unless it can be assured that a mistake wasn’t made.

But even in the cases where the suspect is absolutely guilty, can we ever really know the person’s mind set.  Can we truly judge a person deserving of death.  With what we know about psychiatric issues and what little we know about how the human brain actually works, it seems farfetched to me that we would ever be able to determine with any certainty that a person truly deserves death and that is the only punishment that will work.  So, I am against the death penalty.