In Theory: For the first time in nearly 50 years, more Americans are against the death penalty

For the first time in nearly 50 years, support for the death penalty has dropped below 50% among Americans.

According to a Pew Research Center poll, just 49% of Americans say they support capital punishment — a seven-point decline in about a year and a half, the New York Times reports.

Although support for the death penalty has declined for both Democrats and Republicans, opinions differ drastically along party lines. Among Republicans, 72% support the death penalty — down from 87% two decades ago. Just 34% of Democrats support capital punishment.

This question is simple: What is your opinion of the death penalty? What does your faith or belief system say about capital punishment?

The LDS church is neutral on whether governments should impose capital punishment, viewing it “as a matter to be decided solely by the prescribed processes of civil law.”

This position allows church members considerable leeway in their personal views on the question of whether some crimes are so terrible that society is justified in killing the perpetrator.

The church’s neutrality essentially says that while God’s law does not prohibit the death penalty, neither does God require it as an element of divine justice. We are not spiritually obligated to take the life of a killer.

I am unaware of reliable metrics that would reveal how the church’s membership views capital punishment, but my impression is that support for the death penalty has moderated over time, as it has with the rest of the U.S. population.

As to my personal view, I have struggled with this issue in part because guidance from religious sources, including the scriptures themselves, is ambiguous. Even the seemingly straightforward, “Thou shalt not kill” is clouded by conflicting translations of the original Hebrew. Should we read it as “kill” in the broadest English-language sense of the word, or “murder,” as some scholars contend? The difference is profound.

I accept the latter interpretation. But I also have reservations about the death penalty. Although there are cases in which execution can be justified, I don’t believe it is necessary. Advances in criminal science, including the use of DNA evidence that has exonerated a number people convicted of serious crimes, highlight some of the flaws in the jury system and in reliance on witness testimony. Because of this, and because life is a sacred gift, I prefer to err on the side of caution. But that is my view only. It should not be interpreted as the position of the church or as being representative of how most church members see the issue.

Michael White
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
La Crescenta

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I abhor capital punishment because it is an immoral abomination.

Not that I don’t understand the vengeance impulse. I have no doubt that I would be capable of carrying out the death penalty with my bare hands were a loved one of mine a victim of a capital crime. But a civilized society demands that vengeance be restrained, and the state cannot kill people in cold blood yet expect citizens to respect either the law or human life.

It is unfairly applied, with minorities and the poor overwhelmingly populating death row. Any state-sanctioned death is unacceptable, but executions of the factually innocent — as we know has happened — are particularly heinous.

It defies rationality as well, since it does not deter homicides. There is credible evidence that the use of capital punishment may increase murders. It is a huge taxpayer expense, and I’m not talking about the mythical big-screen TVs in cells and multiple tax-funded appeals — the public pays for only one. Life imprisonment would be more of a deterrent at a much lower cost.

Obviously the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment as I believe that the U.S. Supreme Court should rule, bringing us in line with the rest of the developed world. We trail 20 U.S. states and the District of Columbia which have already abolished the death penalty, with a moratorium on executions in four more states.

This November we have a chance to do both the right and the smart thing by passing Proposition 62 and ending capital punishment in California.

Roberta Medford
Atheist
Montrose

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I’m for it. I take my cue from the pages of Scripture, where God commands, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” (Genesis 9:6). To unpack this, you need to understand that every human being bears the image of God, and the value of this is such that for any person to brazenly destroy what God has set both his image and affection upon, that person must forfeit their own earthly membership. That person is one who must immediately be sent to the divine court, and we do that by invoking Genesis and declaring capital punishment. It is just, and it is right, and it is God’s perfect opinion on the matter. What hubris to think any creaturely opinion should be preferred.

The reason this path has met with increasing opposition is, in my opinion, because Christianity is waning. “Stupid is as stupid does,” Forrest’s mama always said, and people no longer look to divine authority for instruction. Instead, they are more and more relying on their own feelings about everything, and so they foolishly abandon the right course and subsequently embrace the wrong. People generally find the death penalty yucky. “It’s barbaric,” some will decry, and this comes from an increasing population who will abort an innocent, gestating human child in a millisecond, would waver on whether to save first their neighbor or their neighbor’s dog, in a fire, and yet will firmly denounce executing some murderous cannibal or serial killer, as just uncivilized!

It makes no sense to catch a violent danger to humanity and then graciously provide them free food, housing and television for the rest of their life, when we should be done with them and properly reward them for their contribution. Some argue that capital punishment is no deterrent to crime, and that is, on its face, errant. If anything, the one euthanized shall never again rape and murder children and bury them in the backyard; they won’t drive by a wedding and accidentally murder the bridal couple while trying to shoot one rival gang member in attendance, etc. The circumstances are legion, as are the devils who deserve the Green Mile. And its not revenge, nor murder, nor barbaric, it is our human responsibility and we must not waver. If we hesitate, we show our lack of respect for the divine image as well as the divine commander, and we deserve all the subsequent repercussions.

Rev. Bryan A. Griem
Tujunga