Voice over:
What if someone you loved was murdered, and the killer confessed? Should they be put to death?
Tom:
When you murder somebody, I believe that person deserves to die.
Voice over:
But morally is it right to take another persons life, even if they’re guilty of a heinous crime?
And what about the risk that innocent people will be executed?
Joe:
I was innocent and I came within three days of being sent to the electric chair.
Voice over:
What do you think?
Two very personal stories that go to the heart of the question: What are the rights and wrongs of the death penalty?
Tom:
My name is Tom Elliott and I believe that sometimes the death penalty is the only just punishment there is.
My cousin Lynn was 11 months younger than me, so we were very close. From as young as I can remember we did all kinds of stuff together, we rode bikes, and played, and went to the beach. You know, just things that kids do.
On July 26th of 1983 Lynn was with a friend of hers and they were going to the beach. And basically she was kidnapped by a man named David Gore. They were driven from the beach to David Gore’s mother and father’s residence and that’s where the raping and everything took place. And Lynn was murdered.
David Gore was captured that evening. There was an eye witness of him shooting Lynn in the face so we knew right then and there that he was guilty. It came out that there were 5 other women that were murdered, and in all instances they were kidnapped, raped, tortured, before they were killed. And David confessed that he murdered these other 5 women besides Lynn.
I mean rage builds up inside of you and you immediately want that person to be gone.
The death penalty should be reserved for individuals that you are 100% sure are guilty. I don’t believe that in today’s world, now that we have DNA that innocent people will be executed. I believe guilty people should be punished according to the severity of their crimes. When you murder someone, when you rape, when you torture, when you rob someone of their liberties of life, I believe that person deserves to die. Being in prison is not enough for someone that destroys lives.
The day David Gore was executed I needed to be there for myself, and I needed to be there for my cousin. We were sitting in the front row, and behind this sheet of glass there was David Gore lying in a gurney covered in a white sheet. It was really rather quick. He went to sleep and within minutes, he was dead.
There was a feeling of relief, of peace. It was final. It was over. I don’t think anyone is happy that someone loses their life. But I felt it was justified.
I think of Lynn every day and wonder what would have happened had David Gore not killed her that day. I wonder what she would have done with her life.
Since the execution there’s no longer the bitterness about what’s happened to her. All of us have been able to close this chapter of our lives. It’s a chapter that will be in the book of our lives for the rest of our lives. But this chapter is closed and you’re able to move on and you’re able to think of Lynn and smile now. You know we’ve accepted the fact that she’s gone and the person responsible for her death has been punished, completely.
Voice over:
The death penalty was abolished in the UK in 1965 though the issue remains very current elsewhere in the world.Here’s another perspective from the United States.
Joe:
My name is Joe D’Ambosio. I believe the death penalty is wrong, because however careful you are mistakes will be made.
I was arrested for a crime I could not and did not commit and was charged with aggravated murder. And they found me guilty.I was never even charged with a crime before in my life. My trial is the shortest death penalty trial in the state of Ohio, it lasted 2 and ¾ days from let’s start to you die.
It was like a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from and I was like ‘This can’t be happening, this can’t be real’. And then it’s like ‘I’m really here, and I’m really sentenced to death’. I was on death row for 22 years. 23 hours a day you’re in your cell. Time just drags.
The way I passed the time was learning the law, it consumed me. I just worked on my case day in and day out. It took approximately 6 years of the legal process before I was set free. My case is a prime example of the reason why they shouldn’t have the death penalty because I was innocent and they tried to murder me.
I came within three days of being sent to the electric chair and electricity would have been sent through my body until I was dead.If this can happen to me, this can happen to you because I was the common Joe. I was never in trouble before, I was doing nothing wrong.
The system is broken.
It averages out that for every 10 that they execute, one is set free. That number is unacceptable.
I go all over Ohio talking about my case. And hopefully we’ll open up people’s minds that they’ll put an end to the death penalty.The death penalty should be abolished for numerous reasons. One, it’s barbaric.
Our justice system is not supposed to be about revenge.
Being in prison for the rest of your life is more of a punishment, all your rights are taken from you, they treat you like an animal, and they have to live with that for the rest of their life. Life in itself is sacred, we should not be the ones that are taking it. God is the only one who has the right to do that. Slowly but surely the states are turning against it.
Every day is a blessing to me. Just to be free, to sit in silence. Because there’s no silence in prison, it’s constantly noisy. I lost approximately 80% of my adult life because of this.
This will haunt me and follow me for the rest of my life, even though I’m free. My ultimate aim is to abolish the death penalty in the United States, but I’m starting here in Ohio since this is the state that tried to murder me.
Voice over:
Representatives of different faiths and beliefs how they felt about the issue of the death penalty.
Lord Singh:
Sikh teachings on the death penalty are very straightforward – there shouldn’t be one. We should not take life in a brutal way, it brutalizes society.
Khola:
When somebody has broken the biggest taboo which is to take somebody else’s life then they have forfeited their right to live and we don’t want people like that in society because they are going to corrupt all of society.
At the same time, if there is any doubt about a person’s guilt then better to let that person go free. It is better for many guilty people to go free than for one innocent person to die – is a general Islamic statement.
In Islamic law the heirs of the dead person are given the right to choose what happens to the perpetrator of the evil. They are told ‘you have the right to ask for the killers death, but if you forgive it’s better for you.’
Jay:
This idea of an eye for an eye, life for a life – perhaps we need to outgrow that. Maybe in the animal kingdom that’s the way things operate, but in the human kingdom as we become more civilized, the way we address issues like death penalty must continue to evolve and reflect a more civilized society, a civilized world.
The idea of life for life does not sit well with the philosophy of Hinduism. Even if you kill one innocent person, that means society has cold bloodedly murdered an innocent individual. That’s a frightening scenario – how can you can yourself a civilized society if you ever do that?
David:
The teaching of Pope John Paul the second was that though Capital Punishment could be used it could only be used if a society didn’t have any other alternative and in the modern world that simply isn’t the case.
If you can you should also give people the possibility of repentance and of finding a new life. And that’s something which, having been punished, should be offered to criminals if its possible to combine with protection of society and this is true even of the worst criminals, because even the worst criminals can be forgiven by God, they can repent.
Dianna:
Even if there’s a tiny possibility that an innocent person will be put to death and be put to death by another, that’s a risk that is too big to take. And therefore life in prison is the alternative for those who’ve committed heinous crimes and that is punishment.
Jonathan:
There’s a much quoted saying that the Rabbis discussed, that if the court found somebody guilty and wanted to apply the death penalty once in 7 years, or once in 70 or ever at all, that court would itself be guilty of the shedding of blood. So from that one can see Jewish thinking moved very much against the death penalty.
There’s no such thing as closure, things carry on, they follow us. What’s become through tragic circumstances part of our reality – it follows us for the rest of our life.
Zoe:
There’s no such thing as a violent person against whom violence wasn’t wreaked in the past. There’s no such thing as person who’d do such a thing and not be ill. So I think really there’s a social burden, and a crime serious and brutal enough to warrant the death penalty is really an accusation of the society in which that crime happened and for society for then to turn around and say we can solve that crime by yet more brutality, yet more cruelty is counter intuitive.
That won’t work.
Everybody knows that if somebody happened to somebody we love, one of your children – one of my children, I wouldn’t just want the death penalty, I’d want to do it myself with my bare hands. But that is why we take the decision away from the victim and away from the victim’s family and make the decision collectively. The only way you can maintain civilization is if you move away from the heat of anger and you say what would I do if I were calm?
Voice over:
So now you’ve heard two personal views on this question – from Tom and from Joe - and a range of other beliefs as well.
What do you think?
What are the rights and wrongs of the death penalty?
Video summary
An exploration of the ethics around capital punishment. Representatives of different faiths and religions explain their perspective on the death penalty.
Tom's cousin Lynn was kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered at the age of 17.
Her murderer was sentenced to death and executed by the State of Florida. Tom believes that the death penalty has brought justice for Lynn, and closure for himself and his family.
Joe was charged with aggravated murder and sentenced to death in the State of Ohio. After spending 22 years on death row, his case was dismissed and he was exonerated. He now vigorously campaigns against the death penalty.
This poses the question: What are the rights and wrongs of the death penalty?
The death penalty was abolished in the UK in 1965, however the issue is still current worldwide.
For example, in the USA, 28 states retain the death penalty. In some countries, such as the Philippines, there are calls to reinstate capital punishment, to tackle drugs related crime. Despite the continued development of human rights legislation, the death penalty is used as a means of punishment, within several justice systems. This underpins a widespread belief that criminals forfeit their rights on commission of a crime.
This short film explores the moral and practical issues of capital punishment, from both religious and non-religious perspectives. It provides students with the opportunity to evaluate a range of beliefs, prior to consolidating their own viewpoint.
This clip is taken from the BBC Two series, Matters of life and death.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS FILM CONTAINS DISCUSSIONS ON VIOLENT CRIME AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. TEACHER REVIEW IS RECOMMENDED PRIOR TO USE IN CLASS.
Teacher Notes
The clip provides two contrasting views towards the death penalty.
Tom’s cousin Lynn was kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered at the age of 17. Subsequently, David Gore was arrested and charged with the murder of Lynn and five other victims. His guilt was established through an eyewitness and a confession to the crimes. Tom believes that in cases such as these, the death penalty should be given as a sentence. If someone deprives someone else of their liberties, they deserve to die. Tom attended David Gore’s execution and describes feelings of finality and peace. He states that no one is happy to see another human die, however it was justified and gave the family closure. Tom believes that the argument that innocent people will be put to death is now without basis. This is specifically due to advancements in criminal investigations, particularly the pivotal role of DNA. He believes that prison simply is not enough of a punishment for someone who destroys a life. People should be punished according to the severity of their crime.
Contrastingly, Joe believes that the death penalty should be abolished, as mistakes will always be made. He speaks from direct experience of a significant injustice, having spent 22 years on death row for a crime that he did not commit. Joe was arrested for aggravated murder and sentenced to death after the shortest trial in the history of the USA – just two and a half days. On death row, he was in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day. He used this time to study the law and after six years of legal processes, he was finally set free. On average, for every ten prisoners who are executed in America, one is released after appeal. Joe believes that these statistics highlight the flawed system that is still being implemented. Life in prison is a far better alternative than the death penalty, people suffer for longer and must live with the guilt of their crimes. Additionally, the justice system should not be built on revenge and the act of taking a life in this way is barbaric. As a Christian, Joe believes that life is sacred and only God has the right to take it away. He spends his time travelling around Ohio, delivering speeches against the use of capital punishment, supported by his personal testimony.
The clip concludes with representatives from various faiths and humanist societies, explaining their views on the death penalty and linking them to their belief systems.
Before watching the film:
Issues addressed within the clip may well personally affect students within the classroom.
You should preview the footage in order to familiarise yourself with the content and enable you to pre-warn students of its sensitive nature. Specifically, there is footage taken from a crime scene.
There are also references to rape, murder and torture which some students may find distressing. You will need to approach with sensitivity and remind pupils to be empathetic towards others were there are differing viewpoints.
You may find it useful to introduce or revisit ‘ethics’ prior to watching the clip. You may wish to explore the following:
- What is an ‘ethical issue’?
- What should form the basis of our ethical decisions?
- An explanation of key terms such as capital punishment, death penalty, justice and exoneration.
During clip:
You may find it beneficial to pause the video in order to check for understanding. The following questions make useful discussion points:
- How might Tom have felt, having learnt that his cousin had been murdered?
- Is it ever possible to be 100 percent certain that someone has committed a crime? If so, on what basis?
- What crimes, if any, should warrant the death penalty and why?
- Is the death penalty ‘an easy way out’ for criminals?
- Why do people sentenced to death spend so much time waiting to die on death row?
- Why do you think that the families of the victim may wish to attend the execution?
- What impact might watching the execution have on the victim’s family?
- Who carries out the executions and how might this affect them?
- Do you support the saying ‘a life for a life’?
- How is ‘justice’ best achieved?
- Do criminals have rights or are they forfeited on commission of a crime?
- Does anyone have the right to take the life of another human?
- Is the death penalty barbaric?
- What causes people to commit crimes – is society ever to blame and if so, should this change our attitudes towards the death penalty?
- Does putting a criminal to death resolve anything?
- Is the use of lethal injection humane?
- Why isn’t the death penalty a deterrent for criminals?
- Can every criminal be rehabilitated and reintegrated safely into society?
- Is it fair to inflict grief on the family of the offender by sentencing them to death?
- Do you think that the death penalty should be reinstated in the UK?
Following on:
You could support students in consolidating their learning, deepening their understanding of the issue and applying exam skills in context. Suggested tasks:
- Lead a class discussion or debate around the question ‘Should the death penalty be reinstated in the UK?’. This could be informal or more structured. The class could be divided into smaller groups and students could be asked to research arguments to represent a particular viewpoint e.g. Humanist, Hindu, Sikh. Alternatively, students could be asked to do their own independent research with some guidance, in order to participate in a free-flowing debate. This could also be carried out in the form of a ‘silent’ debate, having students write down their responses on large sheets of paper or tables. Students could be encouraged to respond to each other to develop evaluative skills.
- Ask students to evaluate the aims of punishment: Rehabilitation, protection, deterrence and retribution. They could consider which aims are met with use of the death penalty, prior to comparing it to other types of punishment.
- Signpost students to pressure groups attempting to abolish or reinstate the death penalty. Students could determine the beliefs which underpin each viewpoint and provide examples of action that each has taken in order to advance their cause.
- Carry out a discussion surrounding the causes of crime and ask students to decide whether this should play a role in determining an appropriate sentence. To what extent is society responsible for the existence of certain types of crime?
- Carry out an in-depth study into the way in which capital punishment is used in the USA. Use supporting materials such as documentaries to provide testimony from those involved in the process (victim's family, offender, prison staff, offender’s family and the wider community). They may also look at issues surrounding supply of the drug which is used within the lethal injection and how this is delaying and potentially preventing executions.
- Students could compare the way in which capital punishment is implemented in both democratic and non-democratic countries. They could evaluate their findings and present these verbally, drawing conclusions from their research.
- Students could research the case of Mark Stroman and Rais Bhuiyan as an example of forgiveness and reconciliation. They could also investigate the principles of restorative justice and how this approach is used in the UK and other countries.
- In relation to religious responses, students could be presented with a collection of scripture or religious teachings relating to the religions which they are required to study. This could be in the form or a card sort (separating those arguments for and against) and they could then be asked to explain the rationale behind their choices.
- Organise and deliver a carousel task, allowing students to collate information regarding different religious viewpoints. This could be related to specific questions or they could be asked to fill out a grid which they could use to compare beliefs.
- Facilitate an in-depth study into one religious perspective (individually or in groups) and present this to the class who could take notes.
- Ask students to research and evaluate the criminal justice system. They could look at miscarriages of justices and racial prejudice for example, within those countries that are retentionists. More specifically, they could also study the case of Lisa Montgomery who was executed in the USA in 2020.
- Students could be asked to complete a ‘Venn Diagram’ in which they identify similarities and differences between two religious viewpoints.
This short film will be relevant for teaching Religious Studies.
This topic appears in OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC KS4/GCSE in England and Wales, CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland and SQA National 4/5 in Scotland.
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