This morning, in an unprecedented step four Catholic national publications have issued a joint editorial. National Catholic Register, National Catholic Reporter, America Magazine and Our Sunday Visitor have all called for an end to the death penalty. You can read the editorial here.
In an excellent essay called The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment Lewis enters the capital punishment debate with a deeper discussion of the principles of punishment. When considering capital punishment we must think through what punishment is for in the first place. Lewis points out that there are three humanitarian reasons for punishment: deterrent, protection of the population and rehabilitation of the offender. While these three might seem the obvious reasons for punishment, Lewis goes on to argue that they are not actually humane because they will inevitably lead to injustice against the prisoner.
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