[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Aug. 3 GLOBAL: Reversing Catholic Doctrine, Pope Francis Declares Death Penalty 'Inadmissable' in All Cases"I eagerly await the new, forceful, and reversed positions on the death penalty from all the Catholic politicians who regularly explain their anti-abortion stance as 'the teaching of my church.'" Reversing long-held church doctrine and aligning himself with progressive Catholic advocates, Pope Francis said Thursday that the death penalty is "inadmissable" in all cases. Announcing a change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the pope said capital punishment is "an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," and vowed that the church will work to abolish the death penalty worldwide. Previously, the church has supported the death penalty for "certain crimes" in the belief that it is sometimes necessary to put a convicted criminal to death "to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor." This policy is incongruous with Catholic teachings regarding the dignity of human life, the pope proclaimed. In his reversal of the church's stance, Pope Francis noted that convicted criminals can be incarcerated with the potential for rehabilitation. "More effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption," the Pope said. The church's reversal comes amid increased support for the death penalty in the United States, with President Donald Trump calling for drug dealers. Before his 2016 presidential run, he also tweeted that so-called "perverts" should be executed by the state. Amnesty International reports that 993 worldwide executions were recorded in 2017, with the U.S. submitting 23 people to capital punishment. A recent Pew poll found that 54 % of Americans back the death penalty for people convicted of murder. 53 % of American Catholics also support capital punishment. According to a 2011 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, "Fully 79 % of 'pro-life' Republicans and 85 % of 'pro-life' Tea Party identifiers who say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases also support the death penalty." On Twitter, some political observers noted the obvious disconnect within the right-wing anti-choice movement in the United States, and remarked on the likelihood that conservative Catholic politicians will now reverse their stance on the death penalty. (source: commondreams.org) *** Pope Francis goes all-in against the death penalty. The Vatican announced on Thursday that the pontiff revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the church's written summarization of its teachings, to categorically oppose capital punishment in all circumstances. The revision is a significant shift in Catholic teachings, albeit one that largely takes existing doctrine on capital punishment to its logical conclusion. The church's previous articulation of its teachings indicated that the death penalty could be acceptable if "this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor." The new version recognizes that executions are far from the only effective way to protect human life, citing "an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes," as well as "more effective systems of detention' that protect safety and leave open "the possibility of redemption." Papal opposition to the death penalty itself is hardly novel. That opposition is most often directed at its use in the United States, which is one of the few remaining countries with a large Catholic population that still regularly executes prisoners. Francis called for the "global abolition" of capital punishment during his address to the U.S. Congress in 2015, echoing similar remarks made by Pope John Paul II throughout his 26-year papacy. In 1999, John Paul II successfully persuaded Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, who was not a Catholic, to commute a death-row prisoner's sentence during a papal visit to the state. Thursday's announcement also drew scorn from conservative American Catholics, some of who have grown increasingly critical of Francis's leadership of the church. In a series of Twitter posts, National Review's Michael Brendan Dougherty described the new death-penalty teaching as "religious Calvinball" and wrote that the church "is now a political party with a platform that changes with leadership." (source: newrepublic.com) PHILIPINES: Sotto to reconsider death penalty push after Pope Francis declares it 'inadmissible' Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said he would have to "think over" his push for the reimposition of death penalty in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, following Pope Francis' declaration that capital punishment is
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NY, VA., FLA., OHIO, NEB., UTAH, USA
Aug. 3 NEW YORK: Cuomo to push bill that would end NY's death penalty law Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he'll introduce legislation that would remove the death penalty from New York state law. The Democrat made the announcement Thursday after the Vatican said Pope Francis decreed the death penalty is "inadmissible" under all circumstances. Cuomo says his proposal is being made in solidarity with the pope and in honor of his late father, Mario Cuomo, a staunch death penalty opponent during his 3 terms as New York governor from 1983 to 1994. The elder Cuomo vetoed legislation reinstating the death penalty 12 times in 12 years. New York's death penalty was reinstated in 1995 while Republican George Pataki was governor. The state's highest court ruled it unconstitutional in 2004. The state hasn't executed a prisoner since 1963. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIA: Va. death penalty opponents welcome pope's new teaching against executions Catholic officials and death penalty opponents in Virginia - which has put to death more people in modern times than any other state except Texas - welcomed Pope Francis' new teaching against the death penalty on Thursday, though the impact of the change remains unclear. Previously, the Catholic Church has said executions could be carried out in rare instances. In a change announced Thursday, the Catholic teaching now states that executions are "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person." Bill Re, associate director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, said it "has long advocated for an end to the use of the death penalty in Virginia and will continue to do so." "We take this opportunity to urge our state lawmakers to put an end to the death penalty and to make respect for life the priority in the many decisions they make," Re said. According to the Virginia Catholic Conference, there are nearly 700,000 registered Catholics in the state, or 8.3 % of the state population of 8.4 million. With 113 executions since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, Virginia is 2nd in the country only to Texas, which had 553 executions during the same period. Last year, Virginia executed Ricky Gray, who murdered a family in Richmond, and William Morva, who murdered a deputy sheriff and hospital security guard in Blacksburg. Michael E. Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said, "The abolition movement is very pleased by the updated teaching from the Catholic Church that capital punishment is never admissible. "This change from Pope Francis was the culmination of increasingly critical writings of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI on the death penalty. As a lifelong Catholic, I am proud of the leadership of church leaders on this life issue," he said. Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said, "Practically speaking, the church's new policy of total opposition to capital punishment is aimed at the United States." Chesnut said a new Pew Research Center poll shows that a significant majority of white American Catholics are in favor of the death penalty despite the church being one of the major opponents. "The new policy will give greater ammunition to Catholics fighting to abolish it in the U.S. but will probably not sway those parishioners who support it, many of whom view the Argentine pontiff as too liberal on issues of social policy," Chesnut said. A spokesman for the Virginia attorney general's office, which defends challenges to death sentences, declined to comment Thursday. Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Herring, who won the death sentence against Gray, said he could not comment on the pope's action because of the approaching capital murder trial of Travis Ball, who is charged with the slaying of a Virginia State Police special agent. Chesnut said that of the 52 countries that still execute convicted criminals, the U.S. is both the only major Western country and the only one with a significant Catholic population - the 4th-largest in the world, he said. He said that as the 1st Latin American pope, Francis has put mercy and social justice at the top of his agenda, so the new position on capital punishment comes as no surprise. "One of the fixtures of his foreign tours, including the U.S., are visits to prisons, which in his native Latin America are hellholes often controlled by criminal elements," Chesnut said. Virginia authorities said Thursday that there have been no executions this year and none is currently scheduled. The Virginia Department of Corrections says Virginia has 3 inmates on death row. According to figures from the Death Penalty Information Center, of the 34 states with capital punishment, Virginia has one of the smallest death rows in the country. (source: The Daily Progress)
