P. O. Box 1245 500 S. Main Street Elkhart IN 46515-1245 T: 574-294-7523 F: 574-293-1892 E: Elkhart@MennoniteUSA.org W:www.MennoniteUSA.org

May 16, 2003

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennnsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Delegates of Mennonite Church USA have instructed me to write to you because we believe it is our Christian calling to value all human life.  We are opposed to all capital punishment.  We appeal to you to abolish the federal death penalty and to encourage states to abolish their punishments of death.

Our 1995 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective states, “Led by the Spirit, and beginning in the church, we witness to all people that violence is not the will of God.  We witness against all forms of violence, including war among nations, hostility among races and classes, abuse of children and women, violence between men and women, abortion, and capital punishment .”

“And no one shall make them afraid” (Zephaniah 3:13) , our 1998 Mennonite Statement on Violence, states,  “Violence does not overcome violence . . . . In response to violence in public life, we call the church at all levels to work to abolish capital punishment , wherever it has become law.”

According to Amnesty International, only China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia apply the death penalty more often than we do.  The United States is frequently critical of these countries for their human rights records.  Why not model a better way?

God is a God of mercy and forgiveness.  Our desire is to imitate God in all facets of our life.  However, the following facts demonstrate the inherent injustice with this response to crime:

1. The imposition of the death penalty is racially biased:

· Over 80% of persons executed were convicted of killing whites, although people of color make up over half of all homicide victims in the United States.

2. The death penalty discriminates against the poor.

· Over 90% of defendants charged with capital crimes are indigent or cannot afford to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to represent them.  They are assigned court-appointed attorneys who may be inexperienced or underpaid.

· In most states the pay for court appointed attorneys is so low that lawyers assigned to capital cases will lose at least $20-$30 an hour if they do an adequate job. In Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi defense attorneys are paid a flat fee of $1,000—which translates into about $5 an hour for most lawyers.

3. The death penalty sometimes condemns the innocent to die.

· Since 1973, more than 108 people in 25 states have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence.  In other words, 1 in 7 of those on death row have been freed after being fully exonerated.  

4. The death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crime.

· In 1999 the average murder rate per 100,000 people in U.S. states with capital punishment was about 5.5, while only 3.6 in states without capital punishment.

· Governments that have enacted the death penalty continue to have higher civilian murder rates than those that have not.  The five countries with the highest homicide rates that do not impose thedeath penalty average 21.6 murders per every 100,000 people, whereas the fivecountries with the highest homicide rate that do impose the death penaltyaverage 41.6 murders every 100,000 people.

· In Canada the rate of homicides has fallen since the abolition of the death penalty, from 3.09/100,000 in 1975, the year before the abolition, to 1.76 in 1999.

· Police chiefs say that violent crime is best reduced by reducing drug abuse, a better economy and more jobs, simplifying court rules, and longer prison sentences.

5. The U.S. leads the world in applying the death penalty to minors:

· The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child all prohibit execution for crimes committed before a person reaches the age of 18.

· Since 1990, only seven countries have executed people for crimes they committed when under 18 years of age:  Congo (Democratic Republic), Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, and the United States.  The U.S. has executed more children than any of the other countries, 18 since 1990.

(sources:  Amnesty International and Death Penalty Information Center)

The criminal justice system sends innocent people to death row, applies the death penalty in a racially discriminatory fashion, and disproportionately executes society’s most vulnerable people.  These facts further the case for abolition.

While being clear about our opposition to the death penalty, we acknowledge the deep grief of families of murder victims and victims of capital punishment laws.  We join all compassionate people in holding them in our prayers and committing ourselves to walk with them. We also find wisdom in the counsel of “Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation” who tell us that, “Reconciliation means accepting that you cannot undo the murder but you can decide how you want to live afterwards.”

Mr. President, we urge you to lead our country toward the way of restorative justice instead of death and revenge.

Sincerely,

James Schrag, Executive Director
Mennonite Church USA