Kirk set to express outright opposition to death penalty

The Church of Scotland's Church & Society Council will make the case for the Kirk to express its outright opposition to the death penalty when it presents a landmark report to this year's General Assembly.

The death penalty was briefly discussed at the 2007 General Assembly, but only in relation to Saddam Hussein when the Church & Society Council expressed disappointment at the lack of condemnation of his execution from politicians in the UK. The Church of Scotland has so far never unequivocally condemned the death penalty.

The General Assembly, which meets in Edinburgh from 15 - 21 May, has never previously resolved to oppose capital punishment wherever and whenever it occurs. The Church & Society Council said its report would give it the opportunity to do so this year.

The report poses a moral question to General Assembly: "Is it ever right judicially to deprive someone of life?"

As a part of its wide-ranging deliberations, the Church & Society Council has considered biblical perspectives on the death penalty, ethical/moral factors and capital punishment in historical and theological perspective, as well as examining what objectives for society we are seeking through the implementation of 'punishment'.

The Council's report will welcome the progress that has been made by the worldwide abolitionist movement in the last three decades. In 1977, only sixteen countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Today the figure stands at ninety. A further eleven are abolitionist for ordinary crimes and thirty-two are abolitionist in practice.

In spite of this, between 5 and 10 thousand people were executed worldwide during 2006, with at least 90 per cent of known executions being carried out in China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the USA. In addition, there are between 19,000 and 25,000 people who have been condemned and are awaiting the implementation of their sentence.

The report to the Assembly will recognise that, within the Christian denominations of the world, there are "opposing and honestly held" views of whether the death penalty is acceptable.

However, having tried hard to hear all viewpoints, the Church & Society Council will put its final judgement to the General Assembly, that no system of justice devised and operated by humans is free from error or arbitrariness.

"The death penalty conflicts with the right to life enshrined in the European Convention in Human Rights, and the possibility of the death penalty has manifestly failed to deter murder, war crimes and genocide," the Council believes. "The death penalty brutalises the society which practices it, and alternative sentences for serious crimes exist through which restitution and rehabilitation may be achieved."

The Assembly is set to agree that, at home and abroad, and in all circumstances, the Church of Scotland affirms that capital punishment is "always and wholly unacceptable and does not provide an answer even to the most heinous of crimes".