1.   Imagine the rapid success death penalty opponents would have if thousands of victims of violent crimes said “no” to the death penalty.  How could others take issue with that kind of moral authority?         

2.   The first goal of death penalty opponents should be to reach out to victims with the pure motive of helping them heal. The secondary goal should be to abolish the death penalty. Then we will be successful in meeting both goals. The compassion and sympathy shown to criminals by death penalty opponents seems to the victims to be misplaced. They need and deserve that same compassion, and they need to see our desire for justice for their loved one. We have to make it clear that we are fighting for  justice and mercy, not mercy alone, which is impossible.

3.    We know intuitively that we cannot have mercy without justice. A crime victim knows that not only intuitively but personally.  Something wells up inside a victim of violent crime.  Something God put into our human natures: the legitimate need to right the wrongs committed.  It is built into us as a response mechanism to evil.  If it weren’t, we would have violence and chaos like we can’t imagine.  Excusing wrongs committed will not lead to peace and justice, so death penalty opponents have to make it clear that we are not excusing criminals.  We have to make it clear that criminals should be punished, while at the same time saying that the death penalty should be abolished.  Most people are wronged in small ways, thank God, but anger over even small, uncorrected wrongs can influence their thinking about something as big as the death penalty.  

4.    When wrongs aren’t corrected, that very good response to evil can become evil in itself – it can become anger, hatred, violence.  I think some people are in favor of the death penalty because they are afraid that the worst crime of all, taking innocent life, won’t be corrected and then everyone’s lives will be in danger.         

5.   Anger, bitterness, hatred and revenge are natural reactions we have when someone has  done something wrong to us or to someone we love.  These natural reactions come from fallen human nature.  We have to rise above that.  Still, the wound won’t heal, society won’t heal, if there isn’t a real resolution to the problem.           

6.    When we, as death penalty opponents, suggest to victims that it would be better for  them, physically, emotionally and spiritually, if they would forgive, we have to be able to explain what forgiveness is.  My experience has taught me that people do not understand forgiveness and have the idea that they are being told to “just forget about what happened.”

7.    Justice re-establishes the equilibrium that has been torn apart by a crime.  Justice calms passions and so prevents more crime.  We have to teach that the moral and social order can only be restored through justice and mercy (forgiveness).

8.    Justice is the moral and legal guarantee that assures everyone rights, opportunities and rewards along with responsibilities and burdens.  Everyone in a society is entitled to the privileges of that society, and everyone has to accept the responsibilities of that society.  But justice breaks down because human beings are weak and have egos.  Justice can be rebuilt with forgiveness. Forgiveness is not opposed to justice and is not the opposite of justice.  It is the opposite of revenge and resentment.  To forgive does not mean to overlook the need to right the wrong. Prayer is needed – prayer is the essence of order, justice and freedom.

9.     More victims would be against the death penalty if they believed that evil does not have the final word in human affairs.  Christians have to offer that hope to victims.

10.   Death penalty opponents have to stress that we do not want to kill the man, but we want to kill his meanness.  We must hate the criminals’ hatred – but not the criminals.  We must think of them as our brothers. And we must believe that no amount of evil can withstand the fire of love.

11.   Victims have to have the assurance that life without parole means exactly that.

12.   All human beings cherish the hope of being able to start all over again and not remain forever shut up in their own mistakes and guilt.  But I believe that hope is buried when someone is busily filing appeals, dealing with lawyers, talking to media, fighting to have their sentence changed.  If the death penalty were abolished and there was no hope of changing a “life without parole” sentence, then the inmate has a better chance of resigning himself to prison and then looking inward – that will lead to repentance and freedom of spirit.

13.  I make these last observations as a death penalty opponent and the mother of a child who was murdered:

        There is a hierarchy to life. We must show our love and respect for innocent life first. Sounding gongs and bells, holding vigils, lighting luminaries with killers’ names and sentencing dates are activities done on days of execution.  I have read the following reasons for these activities: they point to the failure of a government that resorts to killing; the death penalty is an injustice; it is traditional to toll bells when there is a death.

       These activities stir up anger in victims, and these questions come to mind:  What about the innocent lives that are taken each day?  Isn’t that a failure of government?  Isn’t that the worst injustice?  Isn’t being killed worse than being punished?  Wouldn’t society be better served if we raised the awareness of the pain and suffering that victims and their families endure? Couldn’t that stir up compassion in a would-be killer’s heart and we might prevent a murder?

        A suggestion: Sound gongs and bells, have vigils and light candles for every illegal killing on a particular day – and offer prayers for those who committed those killings.