Church in the World

Death penalty opposition strengthens

United States

The Archbishop of Denver, Colorado, picked up an increasingly urgent theme among US clergy when he told parishioners last week, "The time is right for Colorado to turn its back on capital punishment," writes Timothy Lavin.

In a column for the Denver Catholic Register, the archdiocesan newspaper, Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote: "We don't need the death penalty, and as people of sense and conscience, we shouldn't want it." His comments coincide with the tenth anniversary of Colorado's last execution. The state legislature is debating a measure that would abolish the death penalty and redirect the millions of dollars it absorbs to create a police unit dedicated to resolving unsolved murders.

Colorado is one of 18 American states considering the repeal of the death penalty or invoking a moratorium on its use.

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