I have seen two people die and both deaths were violent and tragic.
The first happened when I was only a teenager attending a local regional fair. As I stood in line, I watched in shock as a fair worker attempted to jump across the tracks before the roller coaster arrived. He did not make it.
The second happened only a few years ago, when I watched a friend jump to his death from a building on my block. Serving as a pastor in an inner city neighbourhood means that I have been no stranger to the tragedy of untreated mental illness, but never had it culminated in such a final and public end.
Needless to say, both events are forever etched in memory. I will never forget the sights and sounds and smells of those moments. And each time my brain replays their deaths, I cannot help but wrestle with the impossible question: Could I have done something to prevent it from happening?
In less than a week another friend of mine, Matt, is going to be dead -- killed as surely and finally as the other two. I will not see his death, but because the setting of his death is determined (and by some, celebrated) I am already haunted by the images of him dying. It has not happened yet, but I feel as powerless to prevent his death as I am with the others.
You see, my friend Matthew Puckett is being executed by the state of Mississippi on Tuesday, March 20. Matthew has been tried and convicted of a brutal murder. Doubtless there are those who believe that deserves this end and will take great joy when his sentence is carried out. I am not one of those people.
While I know many of my fellow Christians do not agree with me on this point, my faith makes it impossible to condone capital punishment. I will not attempt to argue that position here, for there isn't the space nor is it the primary point. Whether you believe in the death penalty or not, what I hope we can agree on is that, should we use this form of punishment, we had better be damn sure there is no question of their guilt. As I look at Matt's case, there are simply far too many uncertainties to make such a sentence acceptable.
In the United States alone, there are more than 3,200 people facing the death penalty. More than 1,200 people have been electrocuted, shot, hanged, lethally injected and asphyxiated in the name of justice -- men, women, children and people with mental illness. Despite the increasing evidence is showing that many innocent people are being killed -- for example, for every eight people executed, one person on death row is exonerated -- too many people still support this flawed system.
Too many of us embrace the comforting, yet naive myth that our justice system is just. While there is much to be commended in it, our successes should never give us license to ignore the glaring failures that exact their price in the lives of the innocent. Despite our hope that justice is blind, evidence is mounting that many groups do not receive the same justice as others- racial minorities, the poor and the mentally ill, to name only three.
I believe that Matthew Puckett is innocent. For those not convinced, I hope that you will examine his case and recognize that he was not given the kind of justice our society boasts as being the right of every person. Given that reality, I ask that you consider signing this petition to save Matt's life and/or contacting Mississippi's governor, Phil Bryant, and ask for a stay. Allow Matt at least the chance to live his life, even if behind bars.
Few groups more passionately address the issues I raise here than the Equal Justice Initiative. Please take the time to watch this powerful challenge from EJI's founder and executive director, Bryan Stevenson:
Follow Jamie Arpin-Ricci on Twitter: www.twitter.com/missional
Mike Lux: What Bible Is Santorum Reading?
17 people have been proven innocent and exonerated after serving time on death row (http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/The_Innocent_and_the_Death_Penalty.php). EXONERATED. It is not possible that those were the only cases of innocent people or that people who have not been exonerated were all guilty as you claim. Before DNA those people would of been put to death for crimes of which they were not guilty. You have an unfounded certainty in the efficacy of our legal system. If you support the death penalty you support innocent people being put to death. Human beings are too errant to be justified in sentencing people to death. We have every right to protect ourselves against those who would do us harm but we are incapable of creating a system that produces a correct result every time and even if we were the one we currently have is definitely not it. In supporting the death penalty we join company with some of the worst most barbaric countries in the world. The only argument you have thorrsman is denial and that is sad. You would rather deny the imperfection of the legal system and see innocent people put to death. Or you don't deny the imperfection of the system and you simply don't care that innocent people are executed.
Perhaps you would serve yourself better by looking up this case.
I read your beautiful article on St. Francis of Assissi so I am recommending something that may seem very odd. If you can give your friend Matt the Prayer of Divine Mercy that was given to Sister Faustina by Christ Himself in a Divine Vision.
Know that God is infinitely Merciful and that in the human sphere whatever justice is given to another by any human measure, in the end it is Gods Infinite Mercy to which we return. It is the promise of God's infinite Mercy that is contained in the Prayer of Divine Mercy.
If you are already familiar with it you already know how powerful it is but if not, I have included a link to the prayer for you. Read up on the promise of this prayer and you will share it with every one you know:) Also look up Sister Faustina when you get a chance since you so admire St. Francis.
http://www.catholicity.com/prayer/divinemercy.html
Given the great lengths that are gone through to gather evidence and the high level of evidence needed to convince a jury in a death penalty case, I suspect that there are very, very few "innocent" people on death row today, if any at all.
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Even one is too many. While I agree that very very few innocent people are on death row today it's your "if any at all" that is false. I will continue this portion of my argument further if you wish to continue debating.
"Not "must be innocenct" but "MAY be innocent". A rather large difference."
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Lets consider the over 240 people who have served considerable sentences but have been released due to DNA evidence. The vast majority of these for obvious reasons are rape convictions. The "may vs. must" distinction is a hollow rationalization in these cases. No reasonable person can look at these cases and not conclude that the majority of them are in fact false convictions. These conclusions are further bolstered by the fact that many times when the available DNA is analysed the actual perpetrators of these crimes are discovered.
For more details please see www.facebook.com/haiyaalalfalahmovement
Saeed Khan Falahi, India
It might be unacceptable to YOU, but you do not rule the world, or even a part of it.
MURDER is unacceptable, and must be met with the harshest punishment that a civilized people can produce. Execution is that punishment. Life kept in a box without hope is barbaric. Death, as a legal sentence, carried out with care, is not.
The problem is that once you've decided the death penalty is right for some you can't then make exceptions. Killing people in cold blood is either right or wrong - there's no gray area.
I've decided it's wrong for 2 reasons -
1. It's final. There's no room for "oops!" or the discovery of new evidence or DNA testing.
2. It's an easy out for the condemned, and it's far more satisfying that they spend the rest of their natural life in a cell with no chance of freedom.
Save Matthew Puckett - @PhilbryantMS - http://www.change.org/petitions/save-matt-puckett-stop-an-innocent-man-from-being-executed #savematt #justice #deathpenalty