 May/Summer 2000 (XXXVIII 3) |
everal of the members of our Friends Meeting here at Kendal/Crosslands were unpleasantly surprised by PYM printing a letter from a Friend extolling the virtues of the death penalty, and have asked me to write on their behalf in protest.
It seems impossible to imagine that a practicing Friend could so ignore the Commandment to all Christians, "Thou shalt not kill" or the clear message in Faith and Practice of understanding the causes of violence and developing "just and reconciling means" of dealing with violence.
What happens to prisoners suffering the death penalty is organized violence to both the human body and spirit and is totally contrary to Friends philosophy and way of life.
Every nation in Europe and most democratic nations of the world have abandoned the death penalty and have declared it a barbaric violation of human rights. There is irrefutable evidence that the U.S. death penalty is racist: over 40% of inmates on death row are African-Americans. Death sentences are reserved for the poor. Most death row inmates cannot afford an attorney. The death penalty is an extreme and irreversible act of violent punishment which has been statistically shown to be extremely costly and an ineffective deterrent to crime.
Sara P. Scattergood
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Germantown Meeting (PA)
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM