Capital Punishment

“[T]he nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society.” – Pope John Paul II.

The Catholic Church has found a place for the use of the death penalty in modern society when it is used to defend society itself. The Church, which holds the Ten Commandments to be sacrosanct, has made an exception to the Commandment: Thou shalt not kill. It is this exception that allows me as a Catholic to make peace with my decision to pursue a career as a prosecutor where arguing for the death penalty will be something I will have to do with professional and personal conviction.

While interning at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s (DA’s) office and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Attorney General’s (AG’s) office, I have seen cases in which lives could have been saved had a violent offender been put to death. While many see prison as a secure location that removes the threat a violent criminal poses to citizens, inmates can still find ways to continue to put society at risk.

As Spanish is my first language, I was tasked with translating jail calls while working at the DA’s office. On more than one occasion, I heard inmates putting hits out over the phone. They would use phrases like “wash the red car” describing the person they wanted killed. It was eerie to hear one human being ordering another to take a life. Prosecutors also told me harrowing stories of witnesses who were murdered long after a violent offender was sentenced to life in prison. Society was still at risk even though this criminal had been sentenced to life in prison. I realized that if there was a just role for the death penalty here was an instance—the safety of society.

A prosecutor is charged with defending society from harm. Used in this capacity—and not as retribution—the death penalty should be accepted as just. The Catholic Church has put forth the same rationale. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that, “legitimate defence can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State.” The late Pope John Paul II expanded on this in his Evangelium Vitae stating, “Unfortunately it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life.” It is this argument that allows me to accept the use of the death penalty as a justifiable legal recourse for violent offenders.

The role of the death penalty is an issue that every prosecutor must tangle with and find a way to reconcile it with their personal beliefs and professional responsibilities. No legal professional dealing with criminal cases is exempt. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a Catholic, has faced this issue. He said, “If I thought that Catholic doctrine held the death penalty to be immoral, I would resign.”

While, yes, taking another’s life is wrong, so is allowing another’s life to be taken. When you have the ability to prevent the perpetuation of violence and save lives, taking a life is just.

The decision to argue for the death penalty is not one that I would take lightly nor is it one that I have seen the prosecutors that I have worked with take lightly. Just as the Commandment states, “Thou shalt not kill,” a prosecutor does not seek to kill. A prosecutor seeks to defend and protect.