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Table of Contents
Focus Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the LORD came upon me, and [it] brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. [The LORD] led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. [The LORD] said to me, “Mortal, can these dry bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” Then [the LORD] said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then [the LORD] said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then [the LORD] said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act,” says the LORD.
Overview
Focus Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
[The LORD] said to me, “Mortal, can these dry bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.”
Scripture Commentary by Rev. Alan Felton, Resurrection United Methodist Church, Durham; President of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; Vice-President of Methodist Federation for Social Action – NC
The bones return to life through a two-fold process. The Lord’s word first causes the bones to come together, stand up, and then for ligaments and tendons and muscles to cover the formerly scattered and dusty skeletons. This is truly amazing, but it is not yet a true restoration of life. The bodies are now whole, but they are incomplete. Ezekiel is again commanded to prophesy and this time the Lord’s word brings the very breath of life to fill the nostrils and lungs of these once inanimate bodies.
Pastoral Reflection by Rev. Alan Felton, Resurrection United Methodist Church, Durham; President of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; Vice-President of Methodist Federation for Social Action – NC
I urge all Christians to enter into serious reflection and prayer about capital punishment. Abolition is not about letting criminals go unpunished or a call for the rule of law to be weakened. Those who commit crimes must be held accountable, but as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Christians must struggle for a better way.
Key Fact
The murder rate over the last twenty years has consistently been higher in states with the death penalty than in states without. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates)
Related Texts
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive…And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God… through him.
Colossians 3:12-13,17
You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.
Matthew 5:38-39
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins…But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:22,26b-28
You shall not kill.
Exodus 20:13
Scriptural Commentary on Ezekiel 37:1-14
The prophet is led out to an enormous valley filled with dry bones. The Lord asks “Mortal, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3, NRSV). Ezekiel replies only the Lord knows such an answer. In a moment the Lord is working through the mouth of the prophet as Ezekiel prophesies to the bones and they live.
The bones return to life through a two-fold process. The Lord’s word first causes the bones to come together, stand up, and then for ligaments and tendons and muscles to cover the formerly scattered and dusty skeletons. This is truly amazing, but it is not yet a true restoration of life. The bodies are now whole, but they are incomplete. Ezekiel is again commanded to prophesy and this time the Lord’s word brings the very breath of life to fill the nostrils and lungs of these once inanimate bodies. This act is a continuation of God’s creative, life-giving impulse first seen in Genesis. We see here in Ezekiel that the corruption of creation by sinful rebellion is not unredeemable. Nothing is impossible for God. The dead have now not only been given new life in body, but they now experience new life through the power of God’s Spirit.
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is one of my favorite short stories by Flannery O’Connor. It’s the story of a roadside encounter between a traveling family and a group of escaped criminals, including one named The Misfit. The Misfit has a conversation with one of his victims before murdering her. He says, “Jesus was the only One who ever raised the dead…and maybe He shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance.”[1] O’Connor’s story shows the depth of human depravity and the evil we are capable of doing because of it. However, that evil is not so strong that it does not realize the limits of its power. The Incarnation ushers in a new, undeniable reality in which dead things do not remain dead and where the Spirit of God has the power to overcome the barriers sin places around the human heart. Jesus indeed threw everything off balance. That’s the point.
Maybe Jesus shouldn’t have done it as The Misfit says. Perhaps it would be better to remain living in a world where humans are free to dispense justice as they see fit. There are times when it surely would be more satisfying to live in such a world, free from the imperatives of new life in the Spirit. Murderers get the rope or the chair or the needle. Vengeance is ours. It feels good to possess such power.
We should be thankful then that our Father in heaven knows better. Our God saw what we humans are capable of and knew a world shaped by such violence cannot endure. So God’s grace-filled creative impulse continued through the Incarnation and then through a Spirit coming in a rushing wind to sustain us in the hard work of becoming something new. “Mortal, can these bones live?” Only God knows and God’s wisdom is perfect. Thanks be to God.
By Rev. Alan Felton, Resurrection United Methodist Church, Durham; President of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; Vice-President of Methodist Federation for Social Action – NC
[1] Flannery O’ Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” The Complete Stories of Flannery O’ Connor (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1971), 132.
Pastoral Reflection on Ezekiel 37:1-14
I have not always opposed the death penalty. In fact, I was an ardent supporter of capital punishment for much of my life. My father retired after spending nearly thirty years working in law enforcement. I grew up hearing stories of his encounters with some of the most violent and ugly parts of our society. Hearing these stories convinced me some people were unrepentant and even unredeemable based on the evil they did.
Yet, the truth is, while my father’s stories from the streets of North Carolina shaped me, much of my support for the death penalty grew from more crass motivations. I spent nearly sixteen years working in professional, partisan politics before becoming a pastor. Most aspiring North Carolina politicians find it difficult to support abolition of the death penalty. Such opposition can make you look weak in politics when the imperative is to appear strong at all costs. Even those politicians who might be privately reluctant about the death penalty find it difficult to publicly express such doubts. I confess the need to appear strong and to maintain political viability was a major reason behind my support of the death penalty. Any doubts I had about the wisdom or even the appropriateness of capital punishment (and I had them) went unexpressed in favor of personal political expediency.
All this changed for me when I left professional politics in 2010, entered seminary, and was licensed as a United Methodist pastor. I was now free from political constraints and able to witness to what was truly in my heart. I moved beyond the necessities of a political career and even beyond the childhood influences of my father to gain a new perspective which allowed me to bear a truthful witness against capital punishment. I’ve never looked back.
I was however reluctant at first to speak out, but God has a way of shaking loose an unenthusiastic tongue. People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (PFADP) organized press conferences in the summer of 2011 for pastors to speak against repeal of the Racial Justice Act, a law then on the books which provided a key source of appeal for death row inmates. I appeared at one of these press conferences and went home thinking that was that. A few weeks later I received another call. PFADP asked if I would come to Raleigh to appear at another press conference and speak before a legislative committee. I appeared before the committee and went home thinking that was that. It wasn’t long before my phone rang again with an offer to speak at an event alongside Sister Helen Prejean, the long-time death penalty opponent made famous in the book and later the movie “Dead Man Walking.” A few months later I was elected to the board of directors of PFADP. I soon became vice-president of the board and then, within a year of taking that position, was elected president. If I was reluctant about getting involved in the struggle against the death penalty, God surely seemed not to share my hesitation.
Why did I change my views on the death penalty? Why should Christians oppose the death penalty? I offer three reasons.
- God’s unrelenting grace — I recall once discussing the death penalty with a member of the church I was serving at that time. The church member was struggling to understand how anyone could oppose the death penalty, especially for the most heinous criminals. “Besides,” this churchgoer said, “most of these criminals sit in jail for a long time before they get close to being killed. Wouldn’t ten years be enough time to repent?” I replied, “What if they needed ten years and a day?”
The truth is there is simply no predictable timetable for God’s grace to do its work on the human soul. God’s wonderful prevenient grace is always surrounding us and caressing our hearts even when we scarcely know it. It is true that some will resist that grace forever, but it is also true most will eventually feel its power and turn their hearts to God. The death penalty interrupts the work of prevenient grace, preventing humans from responding to God’s voice, and therefore is an offense against God. God’s grace is extended to everyone, even those who have committed terrible crimes.
- God’s judgment — God’s job is to judge his creatures. Humans are commanded by Christ to love their neighbors. This is not to say that those who commit murder and other awful crimes should not face some form of judgment and punishment at the hands of human authority, but the death penalty inflicts a judgment that should only be in God’s hands. Humans are far too fallible (and our criminal justice system far too flawed) to pretend our judgment is perfect. Often the death penalty is administered not for reasons of justice, but instead out of a desire for vengeance. Capital punishment is far too severe a punishment to be controlled by the sinful nature of the human mind and heart. Our society now has available reasonable and viable alternatives to the death penalty which can protect society from dangerous criminals while at the same time properly orienting human justice.
- God’s gift of all life — The death penalty itself is carried out in an inconsistent way. Defendants who are black or who are poor or who are mentally incompetent are far more likely to be sentenced to death than defendants who are white or who have financial means with which to mount a defense or who can fully understand what is at stake at a capital trial. Data gathered for the debate around North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act showed race was a major factor in capital trials, especially noting that prospective black jurors are dismissed at a far higher rate than whites. The recent case of Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, exonerated after nearly 30 years on North Carolina death row, is a perfect example of a flawed criminal justice system at work. Christians who believe all life is a gift from God should be offended by such systemic shortcomings and the gross inequities involved in many capital cases. God’s gift of life is dishonored by such deficiencies.
I urge all Christians to enter into serious reflection and prayer about capital punishment. Abolition is not about letting criminals go unpunished or a call for the rule of law to be weakened. Those who commit crimes must be held accountable, but as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Christians must struggle for a better way.
By Rev. Alan Felton, Resurrection United Methodist Church, Durham; President of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; Vice-President of Methodist Federation for Social Action – NC
Worship Aids about Death Penalty
Responsive Reading
Leader:
God of Compassion,
you let your rain fall on the just and the unjust. Expand and deepen our hearts so that we may love as you love, even those among us who have caused the greatest pain by taking life. For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance as we fill up death rows and kill the killers in the name of justice, in the name of peace.
People:
Jesus, our brother,
you suffered execution at the hands of the state but you did not let hatred overcome you. Help us to reach out to victims of violence so that our enduring love may help them heal.
All:
Holy Spirit of God,
you strengthen us in the struggle for justice. Help us to work tirelessly for the abolition of state-sanctioned death and to renew our society in its very heart so that violence will be no more.
Amen.
(by Helen Prejean, CSJ, from the Peace and Justice Support Network of the Mennonite Church USA, http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/dp_prayer.html)
Prayer of Confession
We recognize that the death penalty is part of the violence in our society. Let us ask forgiveness for all forms of violence. We acknowledge the violence we perpetuate in our world: providing weapons, imposing crushing debt payments, withholding food from governments that we call “enemies.”
Forgive us our sin.
We acknowledge the violence within our country: allowing millions of children and elderly to live in hunger and without homes or shelter, depriving the sick of adequate health care, imprisoning and executing racial minorities in disproportionate numbers.
Forgive us our sin.
We acknowledge the violence in our communities and homes: battering children and abusing women, discriminating against minorities, destroying our environment; building walls of anger and hatred.
Forgive us our sin.
We invite you to name the acts of violence that lie heavy on your heart. Forgive us our sinfulness, O God. Heal us of the wounds that afflict us and our society. Empower us to erase the hatred and violence that continue to scourge people and creation. Empower those of us gathered here tonight to continue our efforts to work for an end to the death penalty.
Amen.
(from the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, “Prayer Service on the Occasion of the Execution of Thomas Clyde Bowling,” November 2004, www.kcadp.org/pdf%20files/Bowling%20PDF/ Prayer%20Service%20for%20Thomas%20C%20Bowling.pdf)
Jesus the Prisoner
Jesus, our brother, you were taken prisoner in the darkness of night and you suffered the humiliation of a captured criminal. You showed the depths of your compassion and love in your life and in your death, and so, we pray…
O God, hear our prayer.
Merciful God, we pray for the victims of crime, and their families, especially for those whose cases are unsolved. May your healing presence through caring people transform their pain and anger in ways never imagined.
We pray…
O God, hear our prayer.
God of all people, the guilty and the innocent, we pray for the victims of capital punishment and their families. May they be comforted by love and understanding shown them by human beings conscious of their own frailty.
We pray…
O God, hear our prayer.
Amen.
(from the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, www.kcadp.org/Resources/SamplePrayerVigil.htm)
Prayer for Those in Prison and Those Facing the Death Penalty
Lord Jesus, grant your grace to those condemned to death. Give them the wisdom to see every day as a gift from you, a day to grow in love and hope, not hatred or despair. Help them to seek reconciliation with you and with all men and women, particularly anyone they have injured. Let their lives be beacons of light, showing that nothing is impossible with God.
Shepherd your people, Lord, and gather these wounded lambs close to your heart.
Amen.
(Adapted from Friends-4-Life, www.friends-4-life.org/death.htm)
Pentecost Prayer
Spirit of the Living God, visit us again on the day of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit.
With rushing wind that sweeps away all barriers,
Come, Holy Spirit.
With tongues of fire that set our hearts aflame,
Come, Holy Spirit.
With speech that unites the Babel of our tongues,
Come, Holy Spirit.
With love that covers over the multitude of our sins,
Come, Holy Spirit.
With forgiveness that encompasses those who are condemned to die,
Come, Holy Spirit.
With power from above to eliminate immoral State-sanctioned capital punishment,
Come, Holy Spirit.
With compassion to the families of victims and perpetrators alike,
Come, Holy Spirit.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
(Adapted, with additional material; from Hoyt L. Hickman, et al, The New Handbook of the Christian Year [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992], 229.)
Children's Sermon about Death Penalty
God’s Specialty is resurrection– Ezekiel 37:1-14
Theme: Nothing is impossible for God.
Object: Skeleton (You may have one in your Halloween decorations)
Scripture: He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord God, only you know.” Ezekiel 37:3
Explain what a prophet does. (He speaks for God to the people of God; he speaks truth; he encourages everyone to live as God wants them to live.) Ezekiel was a prophet who had a very interesting encounter with God. God gave Ezekiel a preaching lesson. Tell the story of the dry bones. Ask: Do you know what resurrection means? Encourage answers: brought to life, given new vigor, released from sin and guilt. End with saying that God wanted his people to know that resurrection is God’s business. He wanted them to know that he could resurrect their nation, even though they had been defeated and scattered like the dry bones.
We can be modern day prophets. We can speak God’s truth about many things. We can even speak God’s truth about putting someone to death for a terrible crime. God would say killing is not the way. He would say, “Even terrible criminals belong to me, and I can breathe new life into them like I did for the dry bones. “ That seems impossible, but God can do it, just as he brought those dry bones to life.
Challenge: We need to understand that nothing and no one is a lost cause to God. God gives life, breathes life into us, and will always bring us to the best in life. If you ever feel that you face a lost cause, perhaps as the people in prison who may be facing death, then you can remember that nothing is impossible for God.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, grant your grace to those condemned to death. Give them the wisdom to see every day as a gift from you, a day to grow in love and hope, not hatred or despair. Help them to seek peace with you and with all men and women, particularly anyone they have injured. Let their lives be beacons of light, showing that nothing is impossible with God. Amen
Suggested Hymns about Death Penalty
Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive
United Methodist Hymnal 390
The Hymnal (1982) 674
Presbyterian Hymnal 347
Gather Hymnal (Catholic) 879
Moravian Book of Worship 777
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
United Methodist Hymnal 121
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ) 73
African Methodist Episcopal Hymnal 78
Evangelical Lutheran Worship 587
Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal Church) 470
Where Charity and Love Prevail
Moravian Book of Worship 785
Gather Hymnal (Catholic) 625
New Century Hymnal (United Church of Christ) 396
The Hymnal (1982) 581
United Methodist Hymnal 549
And Can It Be
Baptist Hymnal 250
United Methodist Hymnal 363
Quotes about Death Penalty
As one whose husband and mother-in-law have both died the victims of assassination/murder, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed in retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of human life. Morality is never upheld by legalized murder.
Coretta Scott King
A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals a chance to reform.
Pope John Paul II
It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind.
Geroge Bernard Shaw
Make your way to death row and speak with the tragic victims of criminality. As they prepare to make their pathetic walk to the electric chair, their hopeless cry is that society will not forgive. Capital punishment is society’s final assertion that it will not forgive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don’t want a moratorium on the death penalty. I want the abolition of it. I can’t understand why a country that’s so committed to human rights doesn’t find the death penalty an obscenity.
Desmond Tutu
I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-executions stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial. . . People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty. Ruth Bader Ginsberg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Vignette about Death Penalty
My Eyes Were Opened to Our Justice System
Former North Carolina death row prisoner Alan Gell spent almost a decade behind bars for the 1995 murder of a retired truck driver. In 2004, he was finally exonerated and freed from prison. He told his story to Marlene Martin.
How did you wind up on death row?
At the age of 16, I quit high school and began to sell drugs. In 1995, there was a big drug bust, and they got one of my suppliers, so my drug supply dried up. A friend then introduced me to these two 15-year-old girls who were able to supply me with just about anything I needed through one of their sisters-in-law. I gave drugs to a guy who was hooked on crack, and he told me that I could use his Dad’s truck, but he never told his Dad. So I wound up in jail for car theft, and while I was there, I found myself being charged with murder.
On April 14, 1995, the body of Allen Ray Jenkins was found in his residence in a decomposing state. When police talked to neighbors, the names of my two co-defendants–the 15-year-old girls–came up. So the cops went and spoke with them. Originally, they said they didn’t know anything. Later, they changed their story, saying they did visit him, and that I busted into the house, shot and killed the guy, and then ran out of the house after I took his money. A few days later, I was arrested for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit both. The first thing I did was call my mom, asking her to help me and thinking that mom could solve everything. I mean, I was basically a kid.
I found out that the cost of a hired lawyer was way out of our range. So I got court-appointed lawyers. I had to get rid of two of the early lawyers because one of them told me the best advice she could give me was to read the Bible. She told me to get to know Jesus and ask him to grant me forgiveness for what I had done–in other words, she believed I did it.
I got two other lawyers. The judge told them in December 1998 to be ready for trial in February–this is on his first day accepting me as a client. He said he wasn’t sure he could prepare for a capital case that quick. The judge then said that the previous lawyer–the one who slid the Bible to me–had been working on the case for over a year and a half, and couldn’t he just use her files and get her to update him on the case?
What was the trial like?
During every word that the two co-defendants said against me–which was the only evidence against me, there was no physical evidence at all–I was laughing inside, thinking, “You all cannot be behind this. Just quit even trying to tell these lies, because nobody is ever going to believe it.” What I didn’t know is that my jury was sitting there, going, “Oh my God, I can’t believe he did this!” They went into deliberations after closing arguments, and five minutes later, they found me guilty. Then there was about a week and a half spent on the sentencing hearing, and the jury came back exactly 45 minutes later–I timed it on my watch–and gave me my death sentence.
I didn’t really get good representation until I was assigned Mary Pollard as my lawyer. She asked for full discovery and got my entire case file–investigative notes and prosecutorial notes. In reviewing it, she found that there were a total of 17 people who had seen Allen Jenkins alive after April 3, the date I had supposedly murdered him. Only the seven who had been re-interviewed by the FBI were turned over at trial. There were two audiotapes, one of which had my co-defendant talking on the phone to another guy about how to make up a believable story for the FBI. The other audiotape was of a friend who had agreed to call and record me, trying to get me to confess. On the tape, this friend is heard telling me that the murder weapon had been found, and I made the remark on the tape, “Good—that’s great!” And he says, “It’s not good—there’s fingerprints on it.” And I say, “Are you for real? That’s excellent! That means I’m fixin’ to go home! I’ll see you in a little bit.”
Why did the prosecutors go forward with the second trial in the face of the new evidence that showed so clearly that you were innocent?
Today, after all the work I’ve done and after all the politicians I’ve had to deal with, I understand why they continued to fight. They did it to maintain a belief in the criminal justice system. If that means an innocent person will be executed for the justice system and for capital punishment to look peachy and nice, then that’s the price they were willing to pay. Rather than admit a mistake was made, which means that we have flaws in our justice system, they decided to fight it as hard as they could to keep the big ugly thing from coming out. What you’ve got is people with a whole lot of power doing everything in their power to cover up and hide what the flaws are. From what I’ve seen here in North Carolina, there’s a whole bunch of whitewashing—it’s really terrible.
What would you want people to know about the people you came to know on North Carolina’s death row?
I remember my first day on death row, I was really, really scared. Our death row is different than any other, because we are allowed to mingle with each other–we weren’t locked in our cell all day. I remember my ride to Central Prison, thinking, “Oh my God, this is going to be bad. I’m fixin’ to be in there with some horrible monsters.” I had the same perception that the criminal justice system portrays to the public–that people who commit capital crimes are monsters and evil, cruel people. It took about 15 to 20 minutes to realize these guys were human beings, and some of them had already convinced me that they were nice and good people. There are a lot of guys on North Carolina’s death row that didn’t deserve the death penalty as we define it. There are four guys on death row in North Carolina that I believe are innocent. Some of my best friends are there. I’ve got a sign on my wall–a huge poster that says, “Alan, thanks, keep fighting,” and it’s got the signature of every death row inmate on it. That’s where I keep it–right there in the middle of my room. I’m doing everything in my power here in North Carolina and other states–if I get the opportunity–to speak out and have these problems addressed and see if we can’t resolve them in some way. I want to see capital punishment done away with, but I also want to see the justice system changed.
From The New Abolitionist, May 2005, newsletter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, www.nodeathpenalty.org/currentna/06_AlanGell.html
Contacts & Resources for Death Penalty
www.nccouncilofchurches.org/1987/04/resolution-on-the-death-penalty
North Carolina Council of Churches’ stance on the death penalty (“The Council has long been committed to ending the death penalty and is now working for a moratorium on executions to allow for a study of the state’s capital punishment system.”) as well as a short reflection on “Why People of Faith Should Care.” Also provides a link to a study done on “Race and the Death Penalty in North Carolina (2001).”
www.pfadp.org
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, interfaith organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Founded in 1994 by the North Carolina Council of Churches, PFADP focuses its programs on organizing among faith communities in the South.
www.nccadp.org
The N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is a non-partisan network of organizations and citizens across the state who work cooperatively to reform North Carolina’s capital punishment system. Our members include attorneys, politicians, faith communities and nonprofit organizations dedicated to criminal justice reform, victims’ rights and restorative justice.
www.sisterhelen.org
The Ministry Against the Death Penalty, founded and run by Sister Helen Prejean. The MADP believes in the dignity of all people and fosters creative, reflective, and educational programs that awaken hearts and minds, inspire social change, and strengthen our democracy’s commitment to human rights.
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. The Center was founded in 1990 and prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for journalists, and serves as a resource to those working on this issue. The Center is widely quoted and consulted by all those concerned with the death penalty.
www.ncadp.org
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The website explains the following: Since its inception in 1976, NCADP has been the only fully staffed national organization exclusively devoted to abolishing capital punishment. NCADP provides information, advocates for public policy, and mobilizes and supports individuals and institutions that share our unconditional rejection of capital punishment.
Facts and Reflection about Death Penalty
- The murder rate over the last twenty years has consistently been higher in states with the death penalty than in states without. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates)
- Nationally, black men are twice as likely to be sentenced to the death penalty if their victim was white, despite the fact that most homicides committed by black men are against other black people. (http://www.naacpldf.org/files/publications/DRUSA_Winter_2010.pdf)
- Nationally, there have been 148 exonerations since 1973. Nine of these were from North Carolina. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty#inn-st).
- The most comprehensive study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The majority of those costs occur at the trial level. (http://www.naacpldf.org/files/publications/DRUSA_Winter_2010.pdf)
In 2013, North Carolina repealed the Racial Justice Act, which had allowed death-row inmates to challenge their sentences based on claims of racial bias. Under the Racial Justice Act, those who succeeded in demonstrating the influence of racial bias in their cases would be sentenced to life in jail rather than death. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/us/racial-justice-act-repealed-in-north-carolina.html?_r=0)