Testimony By The Rev. Geoffrey A. Black

February 8, 2005

I am Geoffrey Black and I serve as the Conference Minister of the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ.  Our Conference is comprised of over 275 congregations, spread throughout the State of New York.  At least ten of our authorized ministers serve as prison chaplains in the State Prison System.  I also serve as President of the collegium of the New York State Council of Churches and today I come before this Committee to express a general view that is shared by the church in which I serve, the United Church of Christ, and by the Council of Churches. 

Since as long ago as 1976, the New York Conference United Church of Christ has stood in opposition to the imposition of the death penalty in New York.  At least four times during the years between 1976 and 2000, delegates attending our Annual Meetings have passed resolutions stating their opposition.  The most recent resolution was voted at our Annual Meeting in 2000, which was held jointly with the Northeastern Region, Christian Church Disciples of Christ.  Among other points stressed in their resolution, the delegates stated, “We the delegates of the June 2000 annual meeting of the New York Conference United Church of Christ and the Northeast Region Christian Church Disciples of Christ declare ourselves opposed to state sanctioned killing and call on Governor Pataki and elected officials to repeal and abolish the death penalty in New York.”   I suppose they could be no more direct than that. 

Together, New York Conference of the United Church of Christ, The Christian Church Disciples of Christ and the New York Council of Churches share in their opposition to the continued existence of Capital Punishment as an aspect of law in the State of New York.  It is our express view that since Capital Punishment has been declared unconstitutional in the Courts of the State, the legislature should take no action to repair and reinstate Capital Punishment now or at any time in the future.  It is time to put an end to it.

This sordid act of state sanctioned violence fails to accomplish the goals put forth by those who support it.  It does not bring closure to the families of victims.  It does not deter violent crime.  The one thing that it may accomplish occasionally is retribution, and our belief is state sponsored retribution has no place in civil society.  It does not serve the common good.  It only leads to an endless cycle of violence.

Our stance on this crucial matter of public policy is rooted, first of all, in our faith tradition.  We hold fast to the belief that all human beings are precious in God’s sight.  At the same time, as Christians, we understand our Holy Scriptures, which at times do condone and even call for the use of capital punishment, through the lens of the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ.  These are teachings which clearly renounce retribution and specifically as it applies to capital punishment. 

In the Gospel John Chapter 8, Jesus challenges those who would execute a woman caught in adultery.  While Mosaic Law would have supported her being stoned to death for her offense, Jesus admonishes the crowd to “let the one who is without sin throw the first stone.”  No stones were thrown that day, because no one present was himself sinless or thereby perfect and thus in an appropriate position to execute such an absolute punishment. 

It is ironic or perhaps timely that we hold these hearings on the eve of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season, which itself culminates with Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ own execution by crucifixion.  We are reminded that it is at his execution, that Jesus from the cross again challenges the practice of retribution in that he asks forgiveness for those who were taking his life.  There he prays aloud, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  As Lloyd Steffen, Professor of Religious Studies at Lehigh University explains in his 1998 book, Executing Justice, “ Jesus is certainly not taking the occasion of his own crucifixion to lend support to the idea that the state has the legitimate right to do what it was doing.  Rather, by his words, Jesus condemns this execution act and his condemnation is clear from the fact that he asks God to forgive his executioners.”[i]

More generally, our faith tradition holds to the centrality of Jesus’ essential teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.  There Jesus challenges the practice of retribution with this teaching, “You have heard it said, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer.  But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” (Matt. 5:38)  To sum the matter up, Jesus teaches us to not return evil for evil.  Of course this is not always the way of the world in which we live, but as Christians we are challenged not to conform to the ways of the world and the requirement of retribution is one of those ways.

Beyond the position prompted by the theological, biblical and spiritual aspects of our faith, our position is shaped by our belief that any system devised and administered by human beings is subject to error and corruption as our criminal justice system has proven itself to be time and time again.  Such a system cannot be allowed to render an absolute and final judgment, as it would with the death penalty, for which there is no possibility of redress or correction, when mistakes are made.  In our view, a mistake of this order is itself the ultimate injustice.

In this regard we are reminded of the warning issued by the Illinois Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment in issuing its final report, which included no less than 85 recommendations.  The report warned, “Even if all eighty-five proposed reforms were enacted, no system given human nature and frailties, could ever be devised or constructed that would work perfectly and guarantee absolutely that no innocent person is ever again sentenced to death.” 

As I draw to the conclusion of these remarks, I would be remiss, if I did not take note of the fact that this is February, and February is African American History Month.  African American history is indeed a history in which racial injustice is a constant theme.  It is a history in which racism is prevalent in public life in general and in the criminal justice systems in particular.  That history has only led to our present in which there are more African American men in prison than there are at colleges and universities, and where African Americans and Latinos make up the vast majority of those in prison and for that matter on death row, even though we count for a much smaller percentage of the population at large.  This history is such that it undermines any reasonable expectation that the system can function so perfectly that miscarriages of justice cannot occur.

It is my sincere and prayerful hope that you, our legislators, who are entrusted with a sacred responsibility to seek the common good in your deliberations, will take our views seriously and conclude as we have, that Capital Punishment has no place in the legal cannons of the State of New York.

Thank you for your time and attention.