51吃瓜网

At a campus wide program at Pacific Union College May 3, Sister Helen Prejean, the noted social activist and author of Dead Man Walking, called for the end of the death penalty and a shift in focus from retributive to redemptive justice. Prejean鈥檚 appearance in the Napa Valley comes less than two weeks after an initiative to end the death penalty in California qualified to appear on the ballot in the upcoming November election.

鈥淭he Supreme Court says that the death penalty should only be reserved for the worst of the worst murder cases鈥攂ut how in the Sam Hill do we know which is the worst of the worst?鈥� said the Louisiana-born nun who was portrayed by Susan Sarandon in a 1995 film based on her book. 鈥淓very murder is the worst of the worst鈥�we don鈥檛 even know how to apply the standards.鈥�

A nun in the Congregation of St. Joseph, Prejean called attention to what she sees as an extreme paradox鈥攖he religious justification for executing criminals and the merciful figure of Jesus Christ found in the Bible. 鈥淲e have gotten ourselves to a point in this country where we try to make violence redemptive,鈥� she said. 鈥淣othing could be further from the gospel of Jesus.鈥�

She related how she at first tried to focus on the moral arguments for ending the death penalty鈥攐nly to discover that for many, the practical arguments were just as compelling. 鈥淵ou spend $4 billion to execute 13 people. You pay $180 million a year to keep this death machinery in place, and on average you execute someone every 20 years,鈥� she said.

For her, those numbers begged the question of how states that practice the death penalty could be putting that money to better use. 鈥淐an we end the machinery of death and put those resources into at-risk kids? Into health care for people? Into affordable housing? Into education?鈥� she asked. 鈥淟ook at California. In 28 years you鈥檝e built 27 prisons and one university, and you鈥檙e cutting the education budget.鈥�

Prejean concluded her presentation to a standing ovation from the campus audience. Following the program, she signed copies of Dead Man Walking, as well as her follow-up book Death of the Innocents, which details cases of wrongful convictions that led to executions.

At a luncheon following the morning programs, PUC president Heather J. Knight hosted Prejean, as well as college administrators, faculty, and student leaders of the PUC chapter of Amnesty International. Prejean encouraged the student activists to prepare for a hard fight on the November vote. If the measure passes, the 720 California inmates currently on death row would have their sentences changed to life without the possibility of parole.

Prejean is passionate about much more than just ending the death penalty鈥攕he sees capital punishment as just one part of a struggle against economic and social inequality in the United States. 鈥淟ook who鈥檚 on death row across the United States. Ninety-eight percent or higher are poor people,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he street saying is, 鈥楥apital punishment means them without the capital gets the punishment.鈥欌��

California currently has the most inmates on death row, far surpassing even the swath of the Deep South that Prejean calls the 鈥淓xecution Belt states.鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to the discretion of the prosecutor whether to pursue the death penalty,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pure political symbolism鈥�get a death sentence and you鈥檒l look tough on crime. It couldn鈥檛 be more superficial.鈥�

Despite her claim that the U.S. has become a 鈥減unishing society,鈥� Prejean is optimistic that with education, the American public will eventually come around to her side. 鈥淚鈥檝e discovered that most people aren鈥檛 wedded to the death penalty鈥攖hey just never think about it,鈥� she says.

She鈥檚 calling on college students and other activists around the state to help with spread her message in advance of the November election. 鈥淭hey get awake on it. They get that knowledge and get really active in their state,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna take massive education, because if [the death penalty] is upheld, it鈥檚 going to be much more difficult.鈥�