US: Campaign appeals for scheduled executions to be cancelled

Source: Faithful America

Catholic President-elect Joe Biden won the election on a platform that included ending the death penalty, but it seems that the outgoing Trump administration is planning to rush through three more executions before it leaves.

One of the features of the Trump administration has been that it ended a 17-year moratorium on the federal death penalty. It has also set a grisly record for the most-ever federal executions in a single year. Now they seem set on carrying out as many executions as they can before Biden takes office.

Inmates are usually given at least 120 days' notice before their state-sponsored deaths. Lisa Montgomery, scheduled to become the first woman killed by the federal government in nearly 70 years, was given just 54. "There's no possible way for her to get a fair clemency hearing," her lawyer told The Washington Post.

Sister Helen Prejean, a vocal opponent of capital punishment, whose story was told in the film Dead Man Walking, tweeted: "All federal executions scheduled by the outgoing administration should be canceled immediately... Human lives shouldn't be left in a political lame duck limbo."

In August 2018, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made changes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty. Under paragraph number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, according to which "a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state," thus "the death penalty is inadmissible." ( See: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/35379 )

The next federal execution is scheduled for Thursday. Faithful America has issued this petition calling for all executions to be cancelled now. See: https://act.faithfulamerica.org/sign/lame-duck-executions/?t=3&akid=4453%2E504440%2E8DX4Lq

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/upcoming-executions

www.sisterhelen.org/