Website:

Catholics Against Capital Punishment.

  1. Are most Catholics in favor of the death penalty? Explain.
  2. Does the Bible support the death penalty (an eye for an eye, respecting the authority of the state, etc.)? Explain.
  3. Does the death penalty deter others from murder? Explain.
  4. How many death row inmates across our country who have been exonerated since 1973? Explain.
  5. Is it true that the Vatican supports the death penalty? Explain.
  6. Is the death penalty something that family members deserve, so they can feel that justice is done? Explain.
  7. Some state that the Roman Catholic Church seems to be standing up only for the criminals, not the victims. Is this accurate? Explain.
  8. Why do the Bishops of the United States oppose the use of the death penalty? Explain.

Website:

  1. Look at the curriculum’s interactive map and determine what the murder rate is for our state. How many executions the state has had or how many people are on death row? What states have the highest murder rates or the most people sentenced to death? Are they the same states?
  2. What does the state by state data tell us about how the death penalty is used?
  3. What might this data tell us about issues of equality and how justice is exercised?
  4. What are the methods of execution in your own state, if any?
  5. Do we need the death penalty to encourage potential murderers to avoid engaging in criminal homicide?
  6. Are there other punishments that would equally deter future murders?
  7. What would increase the deterrent effect of the death penalty?
  8. Are other arguments for the death penalty more persuasive than deterrence?
  9. Despite the nation carrying out its 1000th execution since capital punishment was reinstated, the majority of states with the death penalty did not carry out executions in 2005. What do you think is the reason for the vast differences in carrying out executions in the states?
  10. Do you think that the significant increase in life without parole sentences and a decrease in the number of death sentences indicates that life without parole has become an acceptable alternative to life without parole? Do you think Life without parole is an acceptable alternative to the death penalty?
  11. Why do you think so many state legislatures are enacting death penalty reform legislation?