So far, 11 states have carried out 45 executions this year, nearly double the number in 2024, even as public opinion continues to turn against the death penalty.
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network. She is the co-author of Advocating for Justice: An Evangelical Vision for Transforming Systems and Structures.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
How Catholics can urge Joe Biden to commute death row sentences before leaving office
We are at a critical juncture in the U.S. death penalty abolition movement. And we as Catholics—including President Biden—can heed the words of Pope Francis and light the way.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Good Friday is the perfect day to commit to ending the death penalty
Why is it that so many of us shed tears in remembering Christ’s execution on Good Friday yet condone the state-sanctioned killing of our neighbors throughout the rest of the year?
Posted inFaith and Reason, Politics & Society
Pope Francis has shown the U.S. a new path for ending the death penalty—for good.
Last year, Pope Francis said, “There can be no stepping back” from the church’s opposition to the death penalty. It is time to put this teaching into action and stop executions in the United States for good.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
The federal government is about to execute the only Native American man on death row—despite his tribe’s wishes.
The Catholic Church and the Navajo Nation stand together in opposition to the execution of Lezmond Mitchell because it, like the racism which brought his death sentence to pass, erodes the sanctity of human life, writes Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
This Lent, U.S. Catholics are called to reckon with the sin of capital punishment
In the middle lands of these 40 days, I am burdened by the fact that our society has not yet reckoned with the ongoing sin of capital punishment nor the full extent of our country’s racist past.