Good morning.  I’m Paul Blackburn, current chair of our church’s Task Force to Abolish the Death Penalty, or TFADP.

I believe that all the Unitarian Universalist principles speak to the troubling moral issues surrounding the death penalty.  But none is more apt than the one that is the focus of today’s service: the second UU principle of promoting “justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.”  To me it is clear that our system of capital punishment is riddled with injustice, inequity, and absence of compassion in human relations. 

Where is justice when poorly prepared and poorly qualified lawyers represent indigent defendants – when life and death decisions depend on often self-interested law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges – and when our system is so prone to error that 117 individuals awaiting execution have been exonerated from our death rows in recent years? 

And by what standard of equity do we come to execute one half of one percent of the 15,000 people who commit murders each year?  What we have is a lottery system in which certain individuals in certain jurisdictions – most of them in Texas, Oklahoma, or Virginia – will be given the ultimate punishment.  And it is the non-white killers of white people, the mentally impaired, and the poor who are disproportionately condemned to death.  Affluent murderers don’t face execution.  American capital punishment is – and always has been – a punishment reserved for those – unlike us – without capital.

And where is the compassion?  The Supreme Court two years ago prohibited executing the retarded, but Virginia and other states still execute juveniles.  And scant allowance is made, anywhere, for mental illness.  Moreover, by promoting a mythical “closure through vengeance,” our system adds to the suffering of families of both the victims and the condemned.  Finally, let us remember that execution by lethal injection is hardly “compassionate.”  The mix of chemicals used is so painful that it does not even meet American Veterinary Association standards for “putting down” animals. 

Working in this consistently pro-death penalty state, which has held more executions than any other over the sweep of U.S. history, we in TFADP do the best we can in a difficult environment.  We join vigils, we send letters, we hold special programs, we share information, and we cooperate closely with Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.  In doing so, we are bolstered by great support from this congregation, such as was expressed by the strong anti-death penalty resolution passed at the UUCA Annual Meeting two and a half years ago.

Our current priority is to support legislation outlawing the juvenile death penalty that is being proposed in the forthcoming Virginia General Assembly by Arlington Delegate Al Eisenberg. 

Today’s share-the-plate collection will go to Unitarian Universalists for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, or UUADP, an affiliate of the Unitarian Universalist Association headed by Virginia resident Tim Stanton.  Tim has informed us that he will gratefully put any funds raised to very good use in the nationwide moratorium movement and to support critical lobbying efforts here in Virginia.

So, in addition to contributing as you may so wish to the offertory plate, please visit our table after the service and join our letter writing-campaign supporting Al Eisenberg’s bill.  And consider joining TFADP, too!

Thank you.