Seventh-day Adventist leaders in North America are urging the federal and state governments in the United States to halt scheduled executions in cases where the fairness of the legal process can be called into question.
Seventh-day Adventist leaders in North America are urging the federal and state governments in the United States to halt scheduled executions in cases where the fairness of the legal process can be called into question.
A letter sent to United States Attorney General John Ashcroft states the church’s concern for the “quality of life for all citizens.” The letter, dated February 21, calls for a moratorium on all scheduled executions in instances: “(1) where DNA or other evidence may have made a difference but was not made available during the trial, (2) until such evidence is made available for said cases, (3) on all cases where the defendant’s poverty or race may have led to a poor quality defense or to a biased verdict, and (4) on all cases where the racial composition of the jury excluded the race of the defendant.”
Dr. Clarence Hodges, public affairs and religious liberty director and vice president of the church in North America, says that “our system of justice must do everything it can to ensure that the innocent do not receive the punishment of the guilty.
“It is important for the church to take a stand on this issue,” he adds. “The passion for justice—for fundamental fairness—is a hallmark of our Christian faith; it is a deep thread running throughout the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ.”
Hodges has met and spoken extensively with Adventists involved in the church’s Prison Ministries program, who have been at the forefront of bringing this issue to the attention of church leaders. Hodges also met with three former death-row inmates who had served years in prison before being cleared of the charges against them. “I was forcefully reminded of the experience of Jesus, who was falsely accused and executed,” says Hodges.
“As a moral voice in society, Adventists have a responsibility to speak out for the innocent,” he adds. In the context of the American criminal justice system, this means urging an appropriate use of scientific advances, such as DNA techniques, to help prevent miscarriages of justice.
It also means acknowledging growing evidence that socio-economic and racial factors can distort the judicial process, he explains, quoting a recent comment by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: “A poor defendant will have a poor defense.”
Hodges affirms that the church in North America is not at this time “addressing the appropriateness or inappropriateness of the death penalty,” but he does not rule out a broad-based review of this in the future. “There would need to be input from a wide range of groups within the church,” says Hodges, “with opportunity for church members, theologians, Adventist academics and lawyers, and church leaders to contribute to the discussion.”