CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

1.  Abolition of Capital Punishment (1981).

WHEREAS, Church Women United cannot accept retribution or social vengeance as a reason for taking human life, because it violates our deepest belief in God as the Creator and the Redeemer of humankind.

WHEREAS, although Church Women United is deeply concerned about the present high rate of crime in the United States, and about the value of the life taken in murder or homicide, we also believe the life of the victim is further devalued by the taking of another life as punishment.

WHEREAS, Church Women United is convinced that the nation’s leaders should give attention to the improvement of the total criminal justice system and to the elimination of social conditions which breed and cause disorder, rather than fostering a false confidence in the effectiveness of the death penalty.

THEREFORE, Church Women United declares its opposition to the retention and use of capital punishment in any form or carried out by any means; we urge the abolition of capital punishment.

FURTHER, the members of the Executive Committee council are urged to write or wire their Senators urging them to oppose the reinstatement of the death penalty in any form.

2.  Against the Death Penalty (1985)

It was VOTED: That Church Women United affirms the public witness in Atlanta, affirming the decision of the United States Supreme Court, upholding the value of life.

Church Women United

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