Abstract:
Over the past several decades, the Catholic Church has become an influential voice in the public debate about the death penalty. Pope John Paul II began in earnest to try to change what he called the “culture of death,” which he identified as including the death penalty. In the United States, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has faithfully campaigned against the death penalty, with press releases, special reports, and amicus briefs. Sister Helen Prejean, who wrote Dead Man Walking-the popular nonfiction book that became a popular movie-is in some sense the “face” of the anti-death penalty movement.
The moral foundation that supports the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty is wide and deep. This Article proposes that despite the oft-repeated maxim that “death is different, 4 the same foundation that supports efforts to abolish the death penalty can also support those who seek to achieve other reforms in the practice of criminal punishment.
