FAMVIN: The International Vincentian Family

Despite increasing Church opposition to the death penalty and UN calls for a global moratorium on its use, a wave of executions has been scheduled in the U.S. in the wake of the Supreme Court’s approval of a widely used lethal injection method of execution. Read the story.

The president of Cuba, Raúl Castro, has announced that most death sentences will be commuted to terms of 30 years to life, which according to one estimate will spare the lives of about 30 prisoners. Read the story.

When the United States Supreme Court upheld the state of Kentucky’s method of execution, lethal injection, it gave the go-ahead to other states to resume the practice. One governor has already announced that executions would begin again. Read the story.

New Jersey has just become “the first [state] in a generation to abolish capital punishment.” In signing the law into effect, Governor Corzine expressed the hope that New Jersey can serve as a model for other states. Read the story.

The Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly yesterday adopted a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Read the resolution and the voting sheet indicating how various countries voted on the resolution.

The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace says that Christians are called to work for the abolition of “the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against the human person,” calling such practices “grave crimes against the human person.” Read more.

Earlier today Sr Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, spoke at University of St. Thomas Law School. Read a summary of the talk by a professor who attended.

World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October, 2007
The Death Penalty

At the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) 62nd session in October 2007, a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions will be introduced as a step towards the abolition of the death penalty. This resolution is expected to be supported by countries from all [...]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Arkansas Catholic) – Sister Doris Moore has experienced the personal side of the death penalty. While some people are against capital punishment for legal reasons, the Daughter of Charity is against the state killing inmates for personal and religious reasons. Her friend is on death row in Texas and is scheduled to [...]

Though the Church “continues to maintain that the legitimate authorities of state have the duty to protect society from aggressors,” the declaration explained that in the modern world, the death penalty is difficult to justify. The Holy See’s declaration, originally in French, states: “The Paris congress is being celebrated at a time in which, because [...]