Capital Punishment - Catholic View

Capital Punishment - Catholic View

Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution is the punishment sentence given to criminals who are convicted of a crime which is worthy of the death penalty. Currently only 58 countries practice the act of execution while 90 countries have abolished it. But do you think it is necessary for a murderer to be given the death penalty? “...Life for a life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth...”- Exodus 21:22-25. But what if the person is wrongly convicted? “Keep from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will aquit the wicked” - Exodus23:7. Well that could make you think twice.

The Life of David Gale was a film that was released on the 23rd of February, 2003. It is about the execution of a man by the name of David Gale. David Gale was an activist against the use of capital punishment and protested openly. But once his life starts to fall apart he is sent to death row as he is convicted of the rape and murder of a fellow activist. A reporter investigates Gale’s case and finds out that he is fact innocent and was framed. But before she can prove Gale’s innocence he is pronounced dead. In the final scene the reporter is sent another tape and the tape shows Gale purposely leaving his finger prints on the plastic bag that was used to suffocate the victim. It is then evident that Gale and his fellow activists intended on Gale being caught and executed to prove to the world that an innocent man can be wrongly convicted and executed.

In the film the main character, David Gale, is an anti-capital punishment activist and this is the main theme of the movie. We see Gale convincing people that capital punishment is wrong and that innocent people can be killed and “murdered”. But even though the movie is mostly anti-capital punishment in the scenes before the execution of David Gale there is a series of small clips of peoples view on whether they think that Gale should be executed. Most of these people, if not all,...