According to Pope John Paul II, the only acceptable time that capital punishment should be used is when it would otherwise be impossible to defend society. "Among the signs of hope we should also count the spread, at many levels of public opinion, of a new sensitivity ever more opposed to war as an instrument for the resolution of conflicts between peoples, and increasingly oriented to finding effective but "non-violent" means to counter the armed aggressor. In the same perspective there is evidence of a growing public opposition to the death penalty, even when such a penalty is seen as a kind of "legitimate defence" on the part of society. Modern society in fact has the means of effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals harmless without definitively denying them the chance to reform." - Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae
"You have come to the sprinkled blood" (cf. Heb 12: 22, 24): signs of hope and invitation to commitment (Evangelium Vitae point 27)
The reasoning behind not allowing capital punishment is the fact that we live in an already violent culture. What is the purpose to kill people without giving them a chance to reform and change themselves? It does not prevent against crime in our nation. It does not better safeguard the people of the nation. It fails to protect more effectively than alternates such as life in prison without parole. It does not restore social order. It is often imposed unfairly, falling disproportionately on racial and ethnic minorities and the poor. It is not imposed in a way that prevents the execution of possibly innocent persons. In reality there is no use for capital punishment except for in extreme circumstances in which there is no other option. Indiana Catholic Conference
The Streamlined Procedure Acts of 2005 would severely limit habeas corpus to be ruled in cases where the defendant may be on death row. This is shocking because of the staggering number of people who have been exonerated moments before they were killed by the state. It is common sense when a person looks at capital punishment from a state of morality because it is not right to take a person's life because they commited a crime of some sort. The Catholic Church completely agrees with the encarceration of a guilty victim because they are lacking in their morality and they are a danger to themselves and to society. They should not be killed because of this crime because morality calls for safeguards. Letter to Senators on The Streamlined Procedure Acts of 2005
