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WCC Public Policy Positions: Reject the Death Penalty
Here we elaborate on each of the WCC's 2023 Public Policy Positions. The complete document can be found below.
Reject the death penalty. The death penalty is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person. Wisconsin has acknowledged this when it abolished the death penalty in 1854 and must maintain this ban.
Prior to 2018, the Church’s teaching on the death penalty noted a “growing public opposition to the death penalty, even when such a penalty is seen as a kind of ‘legitimate defense’ on the part of modern society. Modern society in fact has a means of effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals harmless without denying them a chance to reform” (Evangelium Vitae). Furthermore, prior to 2018 the Catechism stated that the death penalty can only be justified if it is “the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor,” but those instances “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”
In 2018, Pope Francis asked for a reformulation of the Catechism’s teaching on the death penalty to better reflect the development of the doctrine that has taken place in recent times.
The reformulated text follows in the footsteps of John Paul II’s Evangelium Vitae and situates itself in continuity with the preceding Magisterium affirming that, “ending the life of a criminal as punishment for a crime is inadmissible because it attacks the dignity of the person, a dignity that is not lost even after having committed the most serious crimes” (Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith Letter no. 7).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 2267 now states:
“Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.
Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the human person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, 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.
Consequently, the Church teaches, in light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.“
The Church has long acknowledged the need for civil authorities to ensure the protection of the public and the common good. Modern society has the ability to protect the community without using the death penalty. Incarceration and other punitive measures may be used to adequately protect the community while giving the offender a chance to reform. In other words, public officials have a duty to defend the safety and life of citizens. Yet, penal sanctions should be oriented to the rehabilitation and social reintegration of the person who committed the offense, not vengeance and retribution.
In short, every person is made in the image and likeness of God. Thus, every person has inherent dignity and worth which must be protected from natural conception to death. And for Catholics, being pro-life means protecting all life, including the lives of those who have committed offenses against others and the community.
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