In January of 1999, when the Pope John Paul II made his opposition to the death penalty a public focus of his visit to the United States, Catholics received a similar wake-up call. His strong abolitionist beliefs were strongly echoed in the strongest language against the death penalty he has ever used in the United States during a speech in St. Louis, stressing that “the new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro life in every situation.” (Gross 28). The Pope’s zeal, and willingness to use his position to push his political views, underscores the potential influence of religious organizations of policy (Gross 28). The Pope’s speech had definite impact on the community, spurring Catholics to take a more activist role. “Following the Pope’s visit, Massachusetts bishops fiercely denounced legislation that would have restores the death penalty in their state. Bernard Cardinal Law testified against the bill before the Massachusetts legislature and warned at a press conference that for a Catholic to support the death penalty would be ‘wrong, morally evil and a sin.’” (Gross 28)

The most compelling reason for ending state executions is that, though the state has a right to defend its citizenry, capital punishment merely silences life. It neither dramatizes the horror of crime nor speaks out for life. It was once thought to do both, but not in our brutal society. Capital punishment actually adds to the increasing anger and morbidness of society. America in its entertainment, its public ethics, and its culture is toiled with death. Capital punishment adds to the death. (Tyrell 13)

Other race related atrocities within the capital punishment system have emerged lately. “DNA evidence has made it clear that too often the courts convict innocent people. Thirteen exonerations of people sentenced to death in Illinois – including three provoked by a journalism class at Northwestern University – prompted Governor George Ryan, a Republican, to declare a moratorium on executions in that state. A system in which journalism students are able to prove that the police prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges and jurors convicted the wrong people is not working. The system is not working in large part because most of those accused of crimes are poor people who often receive only perfunctory representation from underpaid, overworked court-appointed lawyers. They have little, if any, protection for police and prosecutors, who may engage in misconduct in the pursuit of convictions and political or personal aggrandizement. They have no protection from the racial discrimination that occurs at every step of the process.” (Bright 18) Capital punishment is counter-productive in that in interferes with the process of law. Its imposition is often arbitrary and deprives an individual of the opportunity to benefit from new evidence or new laws that might warrant the reversal of a conviction or the setting aside of a death sentence. (Bedau)

There are several chief qualms with the death penalty that encapsulate the opinions of those of the left wing. Among these are that capital punishment is “cruel and usual”, “epitomizes the tragic inefficacy and brutality of violence”, “denies due process of law”, “violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection”, “is not a viable form of crime control”, “wastes resources” and “is a violent spectacle of official homicide” (Bedau).

widely discussed topics of bother public and academic discourse. Scarcely a week goes by without a new political or legal issue, murder case or impending execution fuelling the fires of controversy.” (Smith 235) The death penalty has been the subject of many debates over its ethics, practicality, and legality. In order to understand how the left-wing abolitionist views the issue of capital punishment, one must have knowledge of how the opposition defends the death penalty. <

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