Introduction

Movement on both state and federal levels to reinstate and activate the death penalty provides an opportunity and an obligation for the religious community to witness against the use of such punishment as a response to violent crime in our nation. Christ's teachings of love and forgiveness, as well as a recognition of past failures in dealing with capital offenders, guide us to believe that punishment by death is both unproductive and a violation of principle.

We therefore call upon the State to eliminate all death statutes as a means of imposing punishment. We call for the immediate end to planned executions throughout this country. We urge that our society instead look toward constructive alternatives that address the situations of both victims and offenders.

Christian Teaching and Anabaptist Models

The basis for our beliefs comes directly from the Bible. Through the Old as well as New Testaments runs a theme that stresses the sacredness of human life because people are made in the image of God. Thus God's abhorrence of murder is made clear early on. While some allowance for capital punishment is made in the Old Testament, it is modified even there by cities of refuge to which the guilty can flee and by frequent reminders that "vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord."

In the New Testament, the sacrificial expiation of guilt for murder, which was required inthe Old Testament, is now met by Christ's death. The cross now abolishes any Old Testament basis for capital punishment. In addition, the teachings of Jesus about revenge and turning the other cheek instruct us to love others despite their wrongs (Matthew 5:30-56). When Christ himself was executed, he set a model response byhis dying words: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And when confronted directly with the question of what to do in a capital case in his own society' Christ responded, "if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone" (John 8). Christ's model of love, forgiveness and reconciliation does not leave room for the penalty of death.

There has been a long history among Mennonites and Brethren in Christ of objecting to state-sanctioned killings. Our 16th-century Anabaptist heritage emphasizes obedience to Christ, including a reverence for life, and speaks specifically against the use of capital punishment. Menno Simons declared, "…it would hardly become a true ruler to shed blood …if the transgressor should truly repent before his God and be reborn of Him he would then also be a chosen saint and a child of God …if he remains impenitent, and his life be taken, one would unmercifully rob him of the time of repentance of which, in case his life were spared, he might yet avail himself."

Simon’s point is still relevant. If murderers repent and are converted, then like we who have sinned and deserve death (Romans 3:23, 6:23) but have our own penalty of death remitted, they too must be forgiven. If they have not repented, the opportunity for such repentance must not be cut off from them.

Capital Punishment is Ineffective

The major utilitarian argument advanced for capital punishment is that the execution of violent offenders may deter other potential offenders from committing violent acts. Yet the most sophisticated studies have not been able to establish a deterrent effect. If capital punishment is a deterrent, its effect is so minuscule that even the most sophisticated techniques have not been able to measure it. We do not believe that society has the moral right to take so serious a step as ending human life for such a minute and questionable effect.

In fact, it has long been recognized that capital punishment may have the opposite effect upon certain would-be offenders. Numerous studies suggest that some potential offenders may in fact be incited to commit a murder by the example of the death penalty. One study suggests that an execution of an offender may actually cause several additional homicides.

Deterrence theory assumes that potential murderers rationally calculate costs and benefits before committing a violent crime. However, most murders are committed in moments of extreme anger or passion and/or by persons who are psychologically abnormal. A majority involve family members or close acquaintances. Most are hardly situations in which costs and benefits are weighed.

Capital Punishment is Inequitable

Since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in 1972 stating that the current death laws were discriminatory to minorities and the disadvantaged, many states as well as the federal government have sought to reinstate death penalty statutes that eliminate discrimination. The complex and discretionary nature of the criminal justice process, however, makes attainment of the goal highly unlikely. Many states have reinstated the death penalty and a dramatic number of men and women now await execution. In spite of legal guidelines against discrimination, most of those currently on death row are the poor, the minorities and the uneducated.

Capital Punishment is Irreversible

Neither due process protections nor jury attempts to weigh various mitigating and aggravating factors provide an adequate safeguard against mistaken verdicts. History shows a disturbing number of instances where the innocent have been convicted and even executed. Convictions of innocent persons have been documented as late as 1978. Even with elaborate safeguards, innocent persons may be executed. The taking of human life is far too serious an act to contemplate when there is any possibility of error.

Capital Punishment is Inhumane

It can be argued that the taking of human life is itself an inhumane act. Beyond that, human suffering on death row has been described as a kind of "living death."

America's treatment of serious, violent criminals does not compare favorably to other western nations. The United States is the only nation in North America with the death penalty. The European Parliament has adopted a resolution against member nations extending the death penalty. France, once noted for its liberal application of the guillotine, has abolished capital punishment. Thus virtually all of western Europe is without a death law. At the same time, more authoritarian governments like Iran and South Africa retain active death statutes.

Alternatives

We believe the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches must act to enhance respect for human life, and that this cannot be done through executions. We recognize the seriousness and emotion with which this issue is considered by many Americans.

We also recognize the difficulty of any simple answers to the issues of violent crimes. In this spirit, the MCC U.S. Peace Section affirms the following directions for alternatives to capital punishment that are aimed at the removal of underlying causes of violence.

1. We must work for a more equitable and just society. The poor and minorities historically have received little understanding and attention. Many crimes step from the needs and frustrations of the poor and their despair and hopelessness. We cannot be satisfied when one part of our society lives comfortably while another part goes hungry. Our most pressing need for today is to work for improvement of the quality of life by addressing poverty, inequality and racial discrimination. This is essential if we are to curb our nation's violence.
2. We actively seek a nonviolent society. The unrestricted sale of handguns has been a main source of perpetuating violent crime. The focus upon violence in our society through television and militarism has contributed. We will seek to make government more accountable by calling upon it to pass laws restricting the sale and possession of handguns. We identify society's acceptance of corporate violence, institutionalized in national policy and capability for fighting nuclear war, as a taproot of individual violence, and we renounce it.
3. We acknowledge the need to restrain violent offenders and recognize that any alternative to the death penalty will involve such restraint. We urge that that restraint, however, be under more humans conditions which leave room for human growth and change.
4. We wish increasingly to remember the needs of the victim. Often the victim of violent crime becomes victimized once more when society turns its back on the frustration and hurt that the victim faces. We need to broaden our sensitivity to include the affirmation of life of the victim and family as well. If the victim is dead, we will not kill again to show that killing is wrong, nor do we believe that the mating of such vengeance in the long run meets real victim needs, but we urge society to take victims' needs more seriously.
5. We believe that true justice is created through restitution and reconciliation, not retribution. We seek to open avenues for such responses to happen, not just simply with property offenses but with violent offenses as well.

We oppose the death penalty because it violates the teaching and spirit of Jesus Christ. It does not deter crime. It is inevitably inequitable, irreversible and inhumane. In its place we affirm restitution and reconciliation, nonviolence, aid to victims and improvements of social conditions.