Catholic Worker carries message against death penalty to students

It's ironic, Fred Boehrer says, that many teenagers who espouse the death penalty wear crucifixes around their necks.

"If Jesus was around in 1998, they could be little electric chairs or lethal injection needles," he informs the teens. "Jesus' crucifixion is capital punishment. We wear crucifixes as a reminder of how Jesus died. I think we've lost sight of that connection."

A co-founder of Albany's Catholic Worker house, Emmaus House, with his wife, Diana Conroy, Mr. Boehrer has lectured at high schools, parishes and religious education classes in the Albany Diocese on his choice to live in solidarity with the poor as a Catholic Worker. In doing so, he speaks on advocating for those in need -- and on protesting capital punishment.

Time for thought

"When Gov. Pataki was elected in New York State, there was a great sense of enthusiasm about bringing back the death penalty," Mr. Boehrer told The Evangelist. "I think that enthusiasm did not involve a whole lot of clarification of thought about what was involved in the death penalty. I'm hoping that with our visiting public and Catholic schools, we're providing a spark for people to take the time and consider the issues."

During the winter, for example, Mr. Boehrer spoke to a 12th-grade social studies class at Colonie Central High about the death penalty. He began by asking whether the students were against capital punishment; not one of them raised a hand.

"The students had already had conversations about the pro-death penalty position. The class was set up so people go in and give their perspective without taking into account any other perspective on the issues," Mr. Boehrer remembered. "That's not my style. I asked them why people are for it and opposed to it, and spoke with them about the reasons people have opposed the death penalty."

Arguments

The Catholic Worker explained that it's actually less expensive to keep someone in jail for life rather than to use capital punishment, and that many criminologists agree the threat of the death penalty does not deter others from committing crimes.

In addition, Mr. Boehrer said that some people see the "revenge" of capital punishment as a way of achieving justice -- a position many students took -- but added that "that's something I disagree with as a Roman Catholic and as an individual. That keeps the cycle of violence perpetuated."

When students argued that murder victims' families cannot find peace without "balancing the scales" through capital punishment, he read quotes from just such families, who stated that execution would only extend their cycle of grief. In one story, a woman who was beaten and her father murdered brought her Bible to the murderer in prison.

"That shifted [the students'] thinking on it," Mr. Boehrer remarked.

Finally, he cited statistics on the number of people on death row convicted of crimes it was later proven they did not commit. "In the past 20 years, I think there have been at least 40 people convicted of death-row crimes that have been released," he stated.

Reflecting society

Although Mr. Boehrer feels that his talks have a positive impact on the students, he believes that teens' perspectives on the death penalty often reflect those of society in general.

"People's opinions about the death penalty are closely connected with how we feel we should respond when we feel we've been wronged," he said, whether that response is violence or non-violent resistance.

Having spoken at Bishop Maginn High in Albany and Notre Dame/Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady, as well as religious ed classes at St. Patrick's parish in Ravena and Our Lady of Fatima in Schenectady, Mr. Boehrer said that even the majority of Catholic teens seem supportive of capital punishment.

Gospel view

"The difference [with Catholic teens] is a certain set of values and beliefs about the sacredness of life," he said.

Often, he uses the Gospel to point out those beliefs to teens who tell him that the death penalty is acceptable.

"When the people in town were ready to stone a woman because she was caught in adultery -- a clear case of capital punishment -- Jesus' response sets it up so no one throws a stone. They all walk away," he said, citing one example from Scripture.

Efforts

At Emmaus House, efforts against capital punishment have taken various forms, from advocating the closure of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, alleged to have trained Latin American soldiers in interrogation and torture techniques; to selling a book by a death-row inmate who insists he did not commit his crime; to using the streets of Albany as a site for the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.

However, Mr. Boehrer still plans to bring up the issue of the death penalty at future speaking engagements, as well.

"Someone's value, worth and dignity as a person goes beyond a certain place and time," he stated. "I talk about how the death penalty violates that dignity. If capital punishment was wrong 2,000 years ago, what makes it right in 1998?"

(04-30-98) [[In-content Ad]]