Japan suspends death penalty

Link.

And then there was one (industrialized democracy, that is).

Execution of the Innocent

Texas may very shortly become the first state to recognize that they have executed a legally and factually innocent person. This piece on the Cameron Todd Willingham case is long, and it's in the New Yorker, so you'll have to put up with those insufferable cartoons, but it's a fascinating and heartbreaking tale.

Flotsam & Jetsam: Post-Resurrection Edition

...Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?"

"They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him. Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."

Jesus said, "Mary."

Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!"

Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.

Hope you had a great Easter weekend like we did. Back to blogging.

1. This guy gets it.

2. These jurors don't. Right before Good Friday?

3. That sucks.


4. This looks neat, but isn't that amount of ambient electricity a problem?














5. Legos!

6. You never thought about it from the goombas' perspective, did you?
via Offworld

7. Appropriately rescued on Easter. But what do we do about piracy in Somalia, which is basically ungoverned?

8. Mike Morrell posts an excerpt from Peter Rollins' new book. I plan to get it.

9. Speaking of Rollins, and since it's Easter-time, here's a quote from him, when accused of denying Jesus' Resurrection:

Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think…

I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.

However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.

Life in Maryland

A legislative commission in Maryland has recommended that the state abolish capital punishment. This report cites several reasons to drop the death penalty, including racial disparity, jurisdictional disparity, substantially higher costs (yes, as opposed to life in prison), detrimental effects on victims' families, the risk of executing an innocent person, and no evidence of deterrence.

There are lots of reasons to be against the death penalty. There is exactly one reason to be for it: believing in the retributive justice of "an eye for an eye". I have little to say to people of non-Christian faiths, or no faith, who support the death penalty for this reason, other than to reiterate all the practical problems with capital punishment (Jews who support capital punishment should read this).

But to my fellow Jesus-followers who support, or are ambivalent about capital punishment, I'd issue this challenge: You have placed your faith in violence and revenge rather than in the Jesus who taught us to forgive our enemies, who flatly rejected "eye for an eye" thinking, and who died to save even (or especially) the worst of us. Who is not willing that any should perish. Who begged for forgiveness for his killers, while they were killing him. Repent.

I hope the state legislature of Maryland listens to this recommendation. Last year New Jersey abolished capital punishment. There is momentum to end this cycle of revenge and violence, even in the South. Let's pray for grace in violent times.

Capital Punishment 2

Genesis 4:8-15

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

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Peter Gathje:

"The death penalty violates [the] justice of God, because it asserts that some human beings are not redeemable; that some human beings should not be saved from death. The death penalty not only seeks to cut a human being off from physical life; it seeks to impose a spiritual death on the person executed by denying the person the time to change, to convert.

The death penalty would impose a human timetable upon God, by saying if God really wants to save this person, God could. Indeed, God could, but who are we to tell God when and where this is to take place? The death penalty makes the state into God, deciding who is redeemable and who is not. The death penalty violates God's justice in deciding that some people should not be allowed the chance at salvation, at conversion, at change. The death penalty even goes so far as to say, "We want this person to rot in hell" - as if we are to determine who is to be saved and who is not.

The death penalty, then, is not only not God's justice, it is idolatry. And as idolatry, it is the worst form of injustice-it does not give to God what is due to God as God - namely, power over life and death. It is idolatry in that it makes the state into God. It is idolatry in its preaching of a false god - a god of death rather than the God of life. God is a God of life, not a God of death. My God, what is so wrong with us that we so pervert God's Word to make God into a God of death?"

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Steven D. Stewart (Prosecuting Attorney for Clark County, Indiana)

"Along with two-thirds of the American public, I believe in capital punishment. I believe that there are some defendants who have earned the ultimate punishment our society has to offer by committing murder with aggravating circumstances present. I believe life is sacred. It cheapens the life of an innocent murder victim to say that society has no right to keep the murderer from ever killing again. In my view, society has not only the right, but the duty to act in self defense to protect the innocent."

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Matthew 5:38-47

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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"One of the great counterarguments death penalty opponents face is the challenge, 'If it were your spouse/child/sibling who was murdered, you'd feel differently.' Never did I feel that that boy's shocked parents, who were losing their son as surely as my parents lost theirs, and who have the added pain of shame, needed to suffer more. An 18-year-old's execution would not give back the dead. Nor would it have given me 'closure', which I regard as a myth - a politician's fiction. Spare me, please, your feel-good vengeance." -- Paul Bosco, whose brother was murdered (son of Antoinette Bosco).

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Exodus 20:13

God: Thou shalt not kill.

Capital Punishment

"I'm a Christian, I support the death penalty."

When I heard these words earlier in the week, I wanted to scream. I work (as basically a secretary) for a non-profit law firm that defends people on death row through their appeals and other legal processes. The two lawyers I work for in particular do a lot of consulting and training work with lawyers throughout the state who represent people charged with murder. This last week, we held a seminar in Raleigh for lawyers from all over NC, and one of the most interesting things we did was hold mock jury selection with real people from the community. We hired folks through a temp agency to just come and pretend to be prospective jurors on a capital case. They were told to just be themselves and answer any questions as honestly as they could.

Picking a capital jury is interesting. You can't be a juror on a capital case if you would never sentence a murderer to death. You can't be on one if you would always sentence a murderer to death. You have to be someone who thinks the death penalty is appropriate in some cases, but not in others. Consequently, when picking a jury, lawyers who represent the state and the defendant get to ask questions about the prospective jurors' views on the death penalty, among other topics. Right now a slim majority of the country supports the death penalty, and the preference is much higher in the South, so I wasn't surprised that most people were in favor of it. I can and do respectfully disagree with them (I'll explain why shortly). But this one guy...his answer was clear, and unambiguous, and it pissed me the hell off. 

"I'm a Christian, I support the death penalty."

He wasn't saying, "I'm a Christian, AND ALSO I support the death penalty" or even "I'm a Christian WHO supports the death penalty." There are many Christians who do, and though I think they're incredibly wrong (I'm getting to why), again I can respectfully disagree. No, this guy infuriated me because he was really saying, "I'm a Christian, THEREFORE I support the death penalty. I follow Jesus, therefore I want to kill murderers. I worship the most famous victim of capital punishment in world history, who told his followers to turn the other cheek and not resist evildoers, who declined to exercise the righteous judgment of the law even though he's the only person who could ever have rightfully done so, therefore I advocate putting certain people to death, even though it won't undo any of the terrible things they have done. I believe vengeance is mine (or the state's), despite claiming to worship a Man who is a God who said that vengeance is His."

When I'm talking to friends or family members who support the death penalty, or are unsure, sometimes I stick to practical matters. If I was talking to this guy, for instance, I would talk about the 130 people who have been released from death row after being exonerated. We are human beings creating a human system, that is bound to be flawed, so we should not do anything we cannot undo, I say. We cannot give life to the wrongfully executed, therefore we should not take life. And that is a good reason to abolish the death penalty.

I might talk about the well-documented racial disparity. If you are black and kill a white person, you are much more likely to receive a sentence of death than if you are white and kill a black person, or even if you are black and kill another black person. Our justice system values white lives more than black lives, and that is wrong, and so we should abolish the death penalty. And that's a good reason too.

Or I will address the idea of deterrence. If we kill murderers, the thinking goes, then other people who might commit murder will be less inclined to risk their own lives. That turns out to not be true, I'll say. And there's a good reason; people who commit murders frequently do so under the influence of mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse, or severe emotional stress. Most murders are not the carefully planned out schemes you see on Law & Order. People who commit murder are not doing a cost/benefit analysis on the various punishments they may receive. Deterrence is the main reason people give in favor of the death penalty as good policy. So I'll argue against it. 

Or I could simply point out the other countries that execute people like we do. Here's a sample of the places that carried out executions in 2007: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Vietnam, and Yemen. Oh, and the United States of America. One of these things is not like the others.

But as I think more and more about faith and justice, I think I have to attack the base of the death penalty: the moral and ethical question of it. Never mind whether we can create a fair system of justice that will administer executions (which we can't). Are we morally allowed to kill people who have killed others? Are we morally required to? Under the ethics of most societies through history, yes (although all other Western democracies have banned capital punishment). Under the Constitution of the U.S., sure, at least according to our current Supreme Court. I'm not saying capital punishment isn't American. But under the ethics of Jesus?

Matthew 5:38-47

You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Love your enemy. Do not resist an evil person. Turn the other cheek. Eye for an eye justice doesn't apply anymore. Be perfect as God is perfect. These are the ethics of Jesus. I believe Jesus comes at the question of violence, as he always does, in a way we do not expect. 

Us: Jesus, Murderer X killed someone, he deserves to die!

Jesus: Fine. Who deserves to kill him? Let the person who hasn't sinned be the executioner. 

Us: Well, uh, define "sinned".

Jesus: How about this, if you've ever hated someone or called them a fool, that's the same as murder.

Us: Ok, you got us, Jesus...wait! You haven't sinned! You can be our executioner!

Jesus: Rest assured, I will do all the judging that needs to be done. Vengeance is mine, after all. But follow my example. Put the stone down. Turn the other cheek. Lock people up if you have to. But do not take a life. It's not yours to take.

This is kind of long already. More of this later.

Life

A few posts back I told the story of Charles Dickerson. He murdered Brenda Fox. Today the jury unanimously chose life imprisonment for Charles rather than death. 

Hallelujah.

When the jury read the sentence, Charles burst into tears, turned to the victim's family, and said, "I am so, so, so sorry." 

Jason Fox, whose mother was killed by this man, replied, "I forgive you."

Hallelujah.

Life or Death

Tomorrow a jury in Wake County will sentence Charles Dickerson to either life in prison, or to be put to death by the state. They've already convicted him of first degree murder, which means he'll die in prison either way.

The News & Observer has a decent article on it.

I hope to God they sentence him to life without parole. He murdered a woman, and I have no problem with him being locked up forever, but he is the father of 2 sons who deserve some kind of relationship with him.

I am amazed by the graciousness of the victim's son.

"The eldest, Jason Fox, now 25, said Friday he was happy with the jury's decision, although he opposes the death penalty. 'I didn't want him to die, but I didn't want him to get out,' Fox said. 'I don't believe in trading death for death.'"

This is a guy who's been through much worse than I have, but he knows that violence and retribution will only beget more violence. May God's grace rest on him and his family as they continue to mourn their mother's death.

May God's grace rest on the jury as they make their decision. May they choose life, and reject vengeance.

May God's grace rest on Charles Dickerson, who has committed great sins that are inexcusable, but thank God, not unforgivable. May he find a way to be a true father to his boys.

And may we all learn something about how to love our enemies.