In a three-part series on capital punishment, the Colorado College and Colorado Springs community came together to discuss capital punishment by incorporating lectures from Professor Paul Friedland, a historian who has studied the history of capital punishment, and George Williams, a Death Row chaplain.
On Wednesday Sept. 30, Paul Friedland of Cornell University’s Department of History opened three days of college and community discussion on the death penalty, a topic of compelling contemporary urgency. The series was sponsored by the Social Issues and Historical Contexts Initiative of the Colorado College History Department.
Friedland creates a damning portrait of capital punishment in America. He argues that our theory of punishment, our practice of punishment, and how we feel about punishment do not converge. Despite what we tell ourselves, the real reason states kill is simply to get rid of people we no longer deem useful to society.
“I enjoyed the lecture because so many of our classes are discussion based. This was an opportunity to listen and absorb as the speaker fully develops their point,” said senior Andy Post. “His examination of the religious aspect of the death penalty as a spiritual affair was fascinating. In the past, it held great meaning and once it became more secular, we hide it without really considering why.”
“This event opened my eyes. It really made me aware of what was going on concerning the death penalty debate,” said junior Lea Linse. “It was a unique opportunity to hear about people in society we would normally have no relationship with, or who are often condemned to silence along with their crime.”
“It’s good to have events like this to build awareness concerning these issues. It’s not wrong that the ‘leaders of tomorrow’ are here and that they will be influenced by these discussions,” said sophomore Steven Ortega.
The following evening George Williams, Jesuit priest and Death Row chaplain at San Quentin, explored what the death penalty meant to human beings—both those who face it and those who, as a culture and a judicial system, affect it.
Father Williams argued that capital punishment is wrong on every moral ground imaginable. He alternated between moving first-person accounts of the five hundred men warehoused in a prison waiting to die and the oddly detached California manual illustrating the step-by-step procedures for how to kill.
“It really made me wonder,” said student Jake Peterson. “How can we maintain the values of mercy and forgiveness on an individual level while our tax-money and complacency results in institutionalized murder?”
“I found the Priest’s speech deeply moving,” said Linse. “It was a unique perspective and he articulated concerns that many people have concerning the death penalty. He brought the human element to the debate.”
“It’s interesting to think of those who are against the death penalty,” said Ortega. “It’s an alliance between often very religious people, who are not thought of as part of the liberal coalition, and more secular individuals such as myself. It’s an interesting dynamic specific to this issue.”
On Friday at noon, the two speakers engaged in a discussion inviting audience participation.
Their conversation was moderated by Richard Celeste, former governor of Ohio, ambassador to India, and president of Colorado College.
“The best part were the differing perspectives,” said Post. “There was a historian who has looked at capital punishment since roman times, a chaplain who is currently working with people on Death Row and a governor who has had to face the decision of putting people to death. It was interesting how, despite all these different backgrounds, they have all come to reject the death penalty.”
“From the series I gained a better understanding of how society understands punishment and what the function is supposed to be,” said Robert Natiello. “The speakers were all very similar ideologically, which was unfortunate but for me, it did emphasize the importance of addressing racial and socioeconomic inequalities in society.”
“What lingers is the aspect of humanity this bureaucratic, systematic form of state-sanctioned killing reveals and whether we want our government spending $24 million per murder in our name,” said Peterson.
“I wish the speakers could have addressed why the U.S. is so invested in the death penalty when all our peer countries have abolished it long ago,” said Ortega. “Our public broadly supports its use and I want to understand why this issue is so important to people here. What systems make this form of punishment more palpable to American citizens versus those in other parts of the world? Still, I am glad CC continues to speak about the importance of criminal justice reform.”