The case against an Iowa death penalty
by DC Larson
The Associated Press reported that a death penalty bill has passed in Iowa's Senate Judiciary Committee by 8-7. According to the AP, two Republican members of Iowa's senate opposed the bill.
It is now eligible for debate by the full body.
Iowa abolished executions in 1965. I have for decades been a stalwart opponent of the death penalty. I can, in fact, quote Clarence Darrow's legendary trial summations on it. And as a lifelong Iowan, I've always been proud of our state's status as one in which executions are not allowed by law.
My opposition can be divided into three classes: personal, logical, and faithful.
1) To my way of thinking, killing (save for in self-defense) is immoral. Period. But I understand that is a subjective opinion, and not one others share. So, on to the following reasons.
2) Human beings are fallible. Any process involving us cannot be guaranteed error free. No one can be reprieved from the cemetery, should a mistake be subsequently uncovered. For that reason, executions are not a logical option for protecting innocents. That is supposed to be a goal of the justice system.
I believe that sound view alone is sufficient cause for being against capital punishment. But when I returned to the Catholic Church, last year, it was joined by another fine reason.
3) The Catholic Church counts capital punishment opposition among its fine principles. Persons convicted of capital offenses who've not yet accepted Divine authority are denied that precious potentiality by the executioner's hand.
On the day of death, they may not be ready to convert. And standing between them and that future possibility is too awesome a responsibility for mere man.
Protecting life is a value advanced by Republicans when it comes to abortion and assisted suicide. this is another area where that interest can be defended.
And Republicans and Democrats for whom life is sacred can find common ground, here. One Democrat opponent of the bill was Sen. Kevin Kinney. As a sheriff's deputy, he helped investigate the 2005 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 10 year-old Jetseta Gage by a convicted sex offender.
Kinney is of the opinion that life imprisonment, assumedly without the possibility of parole, is a more severe punishment than execution. "Killing's too good for 'em," as movie characters used to say.
Come to think of it, that's a good fourth reason to oppose Iowa resumption of the death penalty.
by DC Larson
The Associated Press reported that a death penalty bill has passed in Iowa's Senate Judiciary Committee by 8-7. According to the AP, two Republican members of Iowa's senate opposed the bill.
It is now eligible for debate by the full body.
Iowa abolished executions in 1965. I have for decades been a stalwart opponent of the death penalty. I can, in fact, quote Clarence Darrow's legendary trial summations on it. And as a lifelong Iowan, I've always been proud of our state's status as one in which executions are not allowed by law.
My opposition can be divided into three classes: personal, logical, and faithful.
1) To my way of thinking, killing (save for in self-defense) is immoral. Period. But I understand that is a subjective opinion, and not one others share. So, on to the following reasons.
2) Human beings are fallible. Any process involving us cannot be guaranteed error free. No one can be reprieved from the cemetery, should a mistake be subsequently uncovered. For that reason, executions are not a logical option for protecting innocents. That is supposed to be a goal of the justice system.
I believe that sound view alone is sufficient cause for being against capital punishment. But when I returned to the Catholic Church, last year, it was joined by another fine reason.
3) The Catholic Church counts capital punishment opposition among its fine principles. Persons convicted of capital offenses who've not yet accepted Divine authority are denied that precious potentiality by the executioner's hand.
On the day of death, they may not be ready to convert. And standing between them and that future possibility is too awesome a responsibility for mere man.
Protecting life is a value advanced by Republicans when it comes to abortion and assisted suicide. this is another area where that interest can be defended.
Kinney is of the opinion that life imprisonment, assumedly without the possibility of parole, is a more severe punishment than execution. "Killing's too good for 'em," as movie characters used to say.
Come to think of it, that's a good fourth reason to oppose Iowa resumption of the death penalty.
'Waterloo's DC Larson's is an independent. His essays championing the Trump candidacy and presidency ran in newspapers across Iowa,including the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and Marshalltown Times-Republican. Essays by him have run in Daily Caller, American Thinker, and elsewhere. His political books include "That a Man Can Again Stand Up: American Spirit vs sedition during the incipient Trump Revolution" and "Ideas Afoot: political commentary, cultural observations, and media analyses." And his political blog is American Scene Magazine.'
posted by DC Larson at
March 09, 2019
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