23/11/2005

Sant'Egidio spokesman says death penalty legitimizes culture of death

Nations that continue to utilize the death penalty legitimize and promote a culture of death, said the spokesman for a Rome-based Catholic lay organization hoping to prevent two executions scheduled in the United States.

"The death penalty is a huge defeat for the culture of life," said Mario Marazziti, spokesman for the Community of Sant'Egidio, at a Nov. 23 press conference.

Some parts of the world are "starting to recognize that the death penalty is archaic and barbaric like slavery and torture" and should be outlawed, he said.

While capital punishment is intended "to fight violence and death, in reality" it becomes state-sanctioned death and "legitimizes a culture of death," he said.

Marazziti made his remarks at a press event promoting Sant'Egidio's fourth annual worldwide "Cities for Life -- Cities Against the Death Penalty" slated for Nov. 30 in 326 sites, including Montreal, Ottawa and 17 U.S. cities.

The spokesman said the initiative hopes to bring increased public attention to two upcoming executions in the United States. Robin Lovitt is scheduled to be executed in Virginia Nov. 30. His death would mark the 1,000th execution in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Stanley Williams, co-founder of Los Angeles' violent Crips gang, and later, Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his work against youth violence, is set to die in December.

Marazziti said he hoped the Nov. 30 initiative would in some way put pressure on authorities to stop their executions. Cities sponsoring the initiative will light up public buildings or monuments as a sign of their support for the value of life and their opposition to the death penalty, said a Nov. 23 Sant'Egidio press release.

Some cities will host concerts and discussions featuring former death row inmates and family members of murder victims. Prominent activists against capital punishment, including U.S. Sister Helen Prejean, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, will take part.

Sant'Egidio also is sponsoring a two-day initiative promoting an end to capital punishment in Africa. Some 13 justice ministers from different African nations were scheduled to attend a Nov. 28-29 meeting in Rome and Florence, Italy.

"Africa is perhaps the second continent (after Europe) that could become a continent without the death penalty," said Marazziti. Thirteen African countries have abolished the death penalty. Twenty nations where capital punishment is legal no longer carry out executions. That leaves just 20 African nations that retain and use capital punishment, Marazziti said.

"All statistics tell us that, from the point of view of safeguarding life and society, (the death penalty) is totally useless because there is no country that can show a reduction of serious crime after the introduction of capital punishment," he added.

Carol Glatz