The Death Penalty
February 2005
As of this writing, the federal government (including the military) and 36 states have statutes authorizing the use of the death penalty down from one year ago, when there were 38 states. Recent legal challenges in the states of New York and Kansas have forced those two states to either fix badly written laws or to simply join the other twelve states that have chosen not to use the death penalty at all. Currently, there are 3,471 inmates on death row across the United States. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, there have been approximately 948 inmates put to death. In that same time period, 117 people have been released from death row in 25 states with evidence of their innocence, and 220 death row inmates have been granted clemency because of doubts about their guilt or concerns about the death penalty process.
On October 30, 2004, the President signed into law the final version of H.R. 5107, the Justice for All Act of 2004. This anti-crime bill included provisions from the Innocence Protection Act (IPA) which the USCCB supported since its inception in March of 2001.
The Justice For All Act ensures access to post-conviction DNA testing for those currently serving time in prison or on death row, and provides much-needed funds to test a nationwide backlog of more than 300,000 rape kits and other crime scene evidence. A strategic move by the House led to a dramatic improvement in H.R. 5107 with the addition of victims provisions including funding for victims' services through grants to prosecutor and defender offices, as well as assistance to families of murder victims. In the end, the legislation enjoyed the broad support of leaders from the victims' rights community, criminal justice reform advocates and even those who support the use of the death penalty.
Cardinal McCarrick, while Chairman of the Domestic Social Policy Committee, wrote numerous letters to Congress urging passage of this legislation. Then President of the USCCB Bishop Gregory also called on President Bush to sign the bill once it had reached the Presidents desk. The passage of the Justice for All Act of 2004 is the result of three years of steady advocacy and negotiation. It is not only an important step in criminal justice reform and victims rights but also could lead to a significant reduction in the use of the death penalty.
As part of the Catholic Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Conference staff will continue to look for other legislative opportunities that could lead to a reduction and the eventual elimination of the use of the death penalty in the United States. We will also be monitoring any Congressional bills that seek to expand the use of the death penalty.
On October 13, 2004, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in a Missouri case, Roper v. Simmons, involving a juvenile. The USCCB and 29 other religious organizations urged the High Court to affirm a lower court ruling that the execution of persons for crimes committed as juveniles violates the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. In a statement concerning the brief, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington and Chairman of the USCCB Domestic Policy Committee, expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would now extend the same moral wisdom and legal reasoning to the use of the death penalty against those who committed capital crimes as juveniles as it did two years ago when it concluded that the execution of persons with mental retardation could not be squared with the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. The list of religious groups that joined the USCCB on the Simmons brief represent a wide faith spectrum including Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Mennonite, Buddhist, Jewish and Greek Orthodox organizations. As of this writing, the Supreme Court had still not issued an opinion but one could be forthcoming soon.
Since 1980, the USCCB has taken a strong and principled position against the use of the death penalty in the United States. We oppose the use of the death penalty not just for what it does to those guilty of horrible crimes, but for how it affects society; moreover, Pope John Paul II, in both The Gospel of Life and the revised Catechism of the Catholic Church, states that our society has adequate alternative means today to protect society from violent crime without resorting to capital punishment.
- Look for more information, resources and materials on our website, www.usccb.org/sdwp/, under Ending the Death Penalty or go to the web site for Catholics Against Capital Punishment, www.cacp.org.
- Join the Catholic Campaign to End the Death Penalty!
Andy Rivas 202-541-3190; (fax) 202-541-3339; arivas@usccb.org or Frank McNierney (DSD Consultant on the death penalty) ellen.frank@verizon.net.