Death Penalty and Nonviolence

[webpoet1]

I hope that it is okay to post this here. It doesn't deal with
Soulforce issues specifically, or with faith, but does deal with nonviolence.

I wanted to share a personal experience I had with
violent crime and its punishment, and a realization I had about the
death penalty.

In August 2004, my partner's father was violently attacked by his own grandson, (Mary's nephew), who was drunk at the time, but later
admitted he had planned the crime in advance, and had planned to rob
Mary's father of all his money and kill him. Mary's Dad had been supporting
Robert while he attended nursing school. Mary's Dad became severely brain injured after the attack, and lived as a person with serious memory loss and other physical issues, never returning home, and then dying in January of 2005. We think he gave up when he realized he would not be coming home but just to a nursing home. He had been a brilliant man, although only went through 9th grade, and repaired/fixed clocks, built beautiful furniture, a compassionate person who kept pigeons and rabbits and never had a bad word to say for anyone. After the attack, when he woke from the coma, he told Mary's daughter that we should forgive Robert, that "he didn't mean it".

Robert was sentenced on March 20th to 20 to 40 years in prison.
I do not forgive him in the sense that I do not forgive his crime: I will never be able to just brush it aside: I will never be able to just forget it.
However, I forgive him in the sense that I do not wish harm to come to Robert, and wish him well. I would like him to heal, and become a person who would not do this again. This might or might not happen because prison is a very harsh dehumanizing environment. But miracles can happen and it is possible he could change.

And I realized that: i wanted that chance for him to change. And I was glad he did not get the death penalty. You can't change, or make amends, or do any good: once you are dead.

And if I don't want the death penalty for Robert: how can I want it for anyone? Because what Robert did, aside from killing just one person instead of many, is just about the worst thing a person can do to another. and if I don't want the death penalty for him, therefore I don't want it for anyone.

But how do I process this in my own life? I don't have time to become a death penalty aboliitionist. I am already very involved as a peace/antiwar activist, and as a coleader of Soulforce Philadelphia. So maybe the best thing is simply to witness to people/share my experience, when the subject of executions comes up in conversation.

I know that this has changed me, and maybe it is the only good thing that came out of it. Because I now know intuitively/inside of me that execution is murder, and is wrong.



Laurie

[Pablo Rafael]

Laurie,

Thanks for sharing your story. It is touching to hear from someone who has had such a personal connection to this issue. Touching and tragic.

I feel much the same way that you do about the death penalty. It is my opinion that all life has value. There is no one who is worthless. Yes, people who are a danger to others need to be separated from society, but even the worst of us are worth something. To cut off the life of someone removes the chance that they will come to repentance; it cuts them off from the grace that God wishes to give them. If the death penalty could undo the crime, I would be in favor of it. Unfortunately the sins that we committ most often cannot be undone. The consequences must be dealt with.

Also the death penalty is:
more expensive to the taxpayers than life in prison
has been proven not to deter crime
can't possibly undo the wrongs that have been committed
fosters a sense that we are entitled to get revenge

I don't see any positive side to its use and lots of negatives.


Tu Amigo, Pablo