President Donald Trump urged Washington DC prosecutors to request the death penalty for any person convicted of murder in the capital of the United States, a plan that has received criticism from the Catholic Mobilizing Network defense group.
“Anyone who murders (someone) in the capital: capital punishment,” Trump told La Prensa last week.
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
“If someone kills someone in the capital, Washington DC, we will request the death penalty, and this is a very solid preventive measure and all those who have heard it agree,” Trump added. “I don’t know if we are prepared for it in this country, but … we have no choice,” he said.
The president did not clarify how such a requirement would impose.
Last month, Trump began a federal intervention in the Washington DC police and deployed the National Guard to support her. The Autonomy Law of the Columbia district allows a president to take control of the city police for 30 days without the approval of Congress in emergency situations.
The president cited the crime rate of the city as the emergency that justifies the temporary federal intervention.
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, president of the Catholic Mobilization Network, declared CNA – Ewtn News in English – that, like other US cities, Washington DC, “faces challenges with crime and violence that should not be ignored.”
“But suggesting that the response to homicide in the Columbia district should be capital punishment is, in the best case, a terribly wrong approach,” he said. “Perpetuating more violence in response to damage does not promise security or an effective solution to crime.”
The Catholic Mobilizing Network He collaborates closely with the United States Catholic Bishop Conference in initiatives to oppose the death penalty and defend the human dignity of imprisoned people.
“Profane capital punishment the sacred dignity of life and does not deserve a place in the capital of our nation, in our country or in any society,” Murphy added. “In a nutshell, the death penalty is a failed and irreparable system.” Instead of providing real opportunities for healing and closing, capital penalty systematically perpetuates a cycle of violence. “
Murphy argued that applying the death penalty is more expensive than other prison sentences, does not deter crime and runs the risk of ending the life of unjustly accused people.
“The inhabitants of Washington DC deserve real security, true accountability and approaches against crime and violence based on the preservation of life,” he said.
The death penalty is currently legal in 27 states of the country, but has been abolished in 23.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter of the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in various media, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative and The Federalist.