By Maureen Kramlich, Esq.
It is too easy to present the question of capital punishment in the form of “us vs. them,” as a conflict between innocent victims of murder and their attackers. At times the most eloquent and sincere opponents of the death penalty are those who have suffered the most at the hands of violent criminals. They urge us to look beyond the instinct for vengeance, to the infinitely loving God whose children we all are. In the end, the defining issue is not how wicked the criminal’s actions are, but how we should respond if we are to become a society that more fully reveres and respects human life.