Capital punishment: where the rubber meets the road
Last week, I was called in for jury duty. I didn’t try to get out of it because I see serving on juries as part of the price of freedom. If I won’t serve now, who will serve if I’m ever accused of something? Just people who have nothing better to do? That’s not who I want deciding my fate.
Anyway, they tell you that most cases last 3-5 days. No problem. I could manage that and my pastoral duties. I tried to decide how long the trial would have to be before I’d have a problem. Maybe 3 weeks. Doing two full-time jobs would get pretty old by then, and I need to be able to visit hospitals, attend weekday meetings, and perform weekday memorial services from time to time.
So I arrived at the courtroom. And they told us that this case was going to last four… “Four weeks!” I thought. Can I do it? “four months for the first phase,” the judge continued. The whole trial could last six months. It turned out to be a double homicide with special circumstances. That meant the jury would have to decide on the death penalty should the defendants be found guilty.
Needless to day, I filled out the hardship excuse form. But none of the legally accepted categories seemed to fit my case exactly. Not sure whether I would be excused or not, I spent one of the longest hours of my life going over my view of capital punishment. Was it consistent? Was it biblical? Could I defend it? If they didn’t excuse me, I would need to be able to discuss my position intelligently.
I started by searching for “put to death” on the King James Bible I keep on my Palm handheld organizer. (Try it on Bible Gateway.) Lots of stuff came up. Everything from murder to stealing to adultery to cursing one’s parents to working on the sabbath. There are lots more. By these standards, most children would have to be put to death at least a couple of times. So the Law of Moses was pretty keen on the death penalty, but it didn’t limit it to murder with special circumstances.
But in John 8:1-11 when Jesus was faced with deciding whether a woman caught in adultery (remember - that’s on my list of capital offenses in the Bible), he did something different. He said, “”If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” No one could. Then Jesus told her to “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus was in a unique position to interpret the Law, since he was part of its writing. I wasn’t. But still, Jesus came to fulfill the Law. He took the penalty on himself. So how can we use the biblical mandates for capital punishment as justification for doling out that penalty now? I know that a large number of convictions have been overturned since DNA evidence became available. How many other mistakes have we made? The death penalty is irreversible. Also, a much higher percentage of African Americans and poor people are sentenced to death than white people or wealthy people. Is that justice?
The thought of having to decide whether someone should live or die based on a few short months of testimony and presentations of evidence made me sick to my stomach. “No,” I decided. It’s not right.
Just as I found that I did have a consistent position, a court official came in and began to read the list of names of those who had asked to be excused. He began, “Stephen Whitney… excused.” I wouldn’t have to determine these men’s fate. But I had an unusual chance to examine my convictions when it wasn’t just an intellectual exercise. It’s amazing how much motivation and clarity that can provide.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m very glad that I was excused - for a number of reasons - but I am also thankful for the experience of that day in the courthouse.