Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

I recently participated on a panel discussing both the administration of the death penalty in general and how Judaism treats the death penalty. Whatever information I imparted, I learned much more from the other three panelists.

I was particularly struck by the presentation of Donna Schneweis, who chairs the KCADP, the Kansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. She presented information on how the imposition has a far-reaching impact that goes beyond the person sentenced to death. (As an aside, there is a marked difference in how each state carries out or does not carry out the death penalty. Missouri is one of five leading states in the number of death sentences carried out. Although legal in Kansas, no death sentence has been carried out since 1965.) 

For the families of the victims, Donna gave information of how a life sentence provides what is essentially an end to the judicial proceeding, allowing for some closure for the victim’s family. With a death sentence, however, the judicial process drags on, for up to 30 years. The trauma for the family is ongoing.

Donna Schneweis also discussed the impact on the corrections officers who have involvement in the process of carrying out death penalties. They take on a form of a moral PTSD — the impact of being required to carry out an act that we have been taught our religion prohibits.  

Corrections officers have reported anxiety, depression, and nightmares in which they see the defendant put to death, and there have even been cases of suicides. The impact is serious enough that there are efforts to give corrections officers planned breaks after carrying out death sentences, and to keep death sentences from being carried out too closely together. Yet these efforts prove insufficient to alleviate the harm caused to the corrections officers.

There are plenty of other issues surrounding the efficacy of imposing the death penalty. When considering whether it should remain as an option in sentencing, we need to consider all who are impacted by carrying it out.