Death Penalty Repeal: "A Blessed Opportunity To Lead"

On Wednesday, the state House of Representatives voted to repeal the death penalty. The state Senate has already voted likewise, and the bill now goes to Gov. Dannel Malloy, who has said he will sign it. The bill was written as to not apply to those already sitting on death row, including the two men responsible for the Cheshire Home Invasion murders of a woman and her two daughters.

Rep. Brendan Sharkey posted this Wednesday night on his Facebook page:

When we began our legislative session this morning, we began with a prayer offered by Rabbi Craig Marantz who, on our behalf, thanked God for what he described as the “Blessed Opportunity to Lead.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Every so often, we as legislators are offered the opportunity to vote on legislation that is so uniquely profound – legislation that encompasses moral questions of such significance, and sets such a significant new direction for our State, that the usual boundaries of party affiliation are erased and we are asked to search within ourselves for answers.

Today is one of those days – a day when, perhaps more than others, we have been given what Rabbi Marantz called that “Blessed Opportunity to Lead.”

In my time in the legislature, when faced with these moments, I find myself relying on my Jesuit training, and I return to a literary work to which I was first introduced in high school. You may be familiar with it – it’s a play written by Robert Bolt called “A Man for All Seasons.” 

It tells the true story of Thomas More, the Archbishop of Canterbury in England during the time of Henry the Eighth. Thomas More was facing execution for his unwillingness to support Henry’s break with the Church of Rome. He based his position on his own morality, as well as the status of the law at his own time. In the end, Thomas More’s personal convictions led to his own execution at the hands of the king.

There is a particular scene in A Man for All Seasons in which Thomas More is being urged by a young colleague to abdicate his beliefs and save his own life. In pushing back, More drew a metaphor of a forest in which the Devil stands, somewhere, out of sight, and the trees of the forest are the laws enacted by the state. More argues that those trees of the forest are what protects us all from the Devil, even if it means that the Devil himself is afforded the benefit of the law. 

The young man objects, claiming he would cut down every tree in the state if he had the opportunity to root out the Devil in our midst. 

To which More famously responds (paraphrasing): 

“Really? And when all those laws are cut down, and you’re standing in that bare field, where will YOU hide? What will protect YOU from that Devil, that Evil in your midst?” 

There are many who believe that the death penalty is one of those trees in the forest protecting us from Evil - that by creating a law that allows the taking of a life in exchange for murder, we as a society are somehow protecting ourselves.

With respect, I disagree. While there is disagreement as to whether the death penalty has a deterrent effect – even proponents of the bill have disagreed on this question - there is no question that the death penalty has had no effect on the presence of Evil in our society. Since the beginning of civilized society, the reality of our darker elements has always been present.

I believe the death penalty, from its inception, has had the effect of stripping bare that forest, those trees, that protect us from the Evil in our midst. 

All we have as a civilized society is our laws. We need these laws to protect ourselves against those darker elements in our midst. Without the laws of our society, we are powerless against such forces.

Now these are Man’s laws, not God’s. God has his or her own means of retribution against Evil. 

But if we as human beings create laws that reciprocate the evil perpetrated against society, are those laws really protecting us? Do we really believe we can stand upright in the winds of a bare field, facing Evil, without the protections of the laws we have created?

This is why our laws must reflect our Better Selves.

So today, I would ask my colleagues to take on that “Blessed Opportunity to Lead.” I believe the step we are taking today, metaphorically, is the a long-awaited re-establishment of that forest that protects us from that element we most fear – which is the a long-awaited re-establishment of that forest that protects us from that element we most fear – which is Evil itself.