 March/April 2000 (XXXVIII 2) |
Editor's Note: PYM News in January/February 2000 reported that PYM Interim Meeting had endorsed a minute calling for the abolition of capital punishment in the United States.
s a lifelong Quaker, I wish to go on record as not supporting this Minute. I would also be curious to know whether this view represents a majority of Friends or rather, as I suspect, only a small select group. I believe that if an individual deliberately sets out to take the life of another person — and does so — often in a most pernicious manner — he should be prepared to give up his own life. If members of a certain race constitute a majority of these offenders then they should pay the price. I think our American system of justice, while not perfect, is as good as (better than) anything that exists anywhere else and mistakes are regrettable but proportionally few. Contrary to that section of the Minute that states that "Capital punishment is destructive of the social fabric within which we live" (a rather bald grandiloquent statement difficult, I think, to support) I would argue that capital punishment may help protect the social fabric.
As a footnote, millions of taxpayer dollars are spent annually to support hardened criminals in prison (sometimes in quite comfortable style) while the wheels of justice (appeal courts) grind on.
I suspect that many of the same individuals who argue to abolish the death penalty were or would be conscientious objectors who refuse to fight a Hitler. Thank God, this view did not prevail in the Second World War.
In conclusion, Friends, I suggest we let the capital punishment law stand regarding the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and focus on assisting the oft neglected victims.
John A. Yeatman
London Grove Meeting (PA)
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM