Is It Time to End Capital Punishment?

Matter of Opinion

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Ross Douthat, News, New York Times, Journalism

4.2 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The death penalty — and the morality behind it — has long divided America. Joe Biden is the first sitting president in our nation’s history to openly oppose capital punishment. By comparison, his predecessor oversaw the executions of 13 people between July 2020 and the end of his tenure. In light of the Department of Justice’s recent moratorium on federal executions, Jane and her guests question the morality of capital punishment through a religious lens. Elizabeth Bruenig, a staff writer at The Atlantic, is Roman Catholic and stands against it, while David French, the senior editor of The Dispatch, argues that there are situations where it is the only just form of punishment. Mentioned in this episode: “The Man I Saw Them Kill,” by Elizabeth Bruenig for The New York Times Opinion section in December 2020. “Not That Innocent,” by Elizabeth Bruenig for The Atlantic in June 2021. “The Death Penalty Helps Preserve the Dignity of Life,” by David French for National Review, published in August 2018. (A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the argument, is there a moral argument for the death penalty?
0:12.3	On July 1st, the Department of Justice halted executions of all federal death row inmates.
0:18.2	In just this month, more than 20 Democratic Congress members asked the Department to go
0:21.8	even further to stop seeking the death penalty.
0:25.5	At all.
0:27.4	Joe Biden's the first president in American history to openly oppose Capitol punishment,
0:32.1	which is a sharp contrast from his predecessor, who carried out 13 executions in the last
0:36.9	six months of his term.
0:40.7	I'm Jane Kostin, and there's this essay that stuck with me through conversations around
0:45.9	if and how the death penalty might change under Biden, and what this might mean for the
0:50.4	idea of justice in this country.
0:52.8	It's by writer Liz Brunick, who in December of 2020, traveled to Terrohoet, Indiana to witness
0:58.1	the execution of Alfred Bourgeois, a man who'd been found guilty of crimes, including the murder
1:03.1	of his two-year-old daughter.
1:05.3	The piece she wrote for the New York Times is called, The Man I Saw Them Kill.
1:10.4	Liz opposes the death penalty, but sitting next to the family of his victims, she writes,
1:15.0	quote,
1:16.0	I know what that feels like.
1:28.5	Personally, I was raised in a Catholic tradition, which declared the death penalty inadmissible
1:33.0	in all cases three years ago.
1:35.8	But I also recognize that there are people from different traditions who believe that the
1:38.9	death penalty can be the right form of truly just punishment, like dispatched senior editor
	...

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