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How to File Complaints Against Physicians in Connecticut

By the Undersigned Church Leaders in Connecticut
January 12, 2005

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). These words are to call to a ministry of shalom, of wholeness, of healing. Wholeness is never in isolation, but is found in community.

In a community in which there is brokenness, the healing of that brokenness can be begin when new understanding is brought about. Nothing so rends a community as the murder of one of its members. We seek to address a new way of understanding the healing that can take place following a murder. We believe reconciliation can occur. Our concern is a pastoral one, and we seek to demonstrate our caring for victims and their families foremost, but, yes, for murderers as well.

Reconciliation comes for both victim and offender not through acts of retribution, but through a system of restorative justice, which encourages healing for victims, demands a clear sense of accountability on the part of offenders, and envisions a restoration of wholeness to the community. In this context, we call upon the churches to work for the elimination of capital punishment.

Pastoral Concerns

Rarely does the death penalty bring “closure” to victims. Usually, it serves only as one more attempt by society to enact vengeance when it feels violated. Many believe the death penalty is needed in order to bring closure to the families of victims. In time, many family members learn to deal with the devastation of homicide through a process of healing. Some advocates of capital punishment impede this process as they promise the family that they will “feel better” after the execution of the perpetrator. So, for years a family member remains a “victim,” waiting for the event that will make her/him feel better. Sometimes the “event” never occurs. When it does, however, there is no evidence of “closure.” Many family members, following an execution, say something akin to: “Why don’t I feel better?” Indeed, the day following the execution of Timothy McVeigh, The Hartford Courant’s front page was plastered with quotes from family members of those killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. The banner headline read: “IT STILL HURTS.”

Furthermore, capital punishment creates a whole new set of victims, as the family members of those who are executed now grieve over the death of someone they love. This is especially painful for them, as they hear society describe their loved one in purely negative terms. They remember the good in that person’s life, and are deeply grieved when he/she is executed.

God calls us not to vengeance, but to a way of life that promotes healing for the victim, justice for the offender, and the legal integrity of society.

Almost every major denomination in the United States is on record as opposing the death penalty. The death penalty serves a desire for vengeance. Many people quote the biblical norm: “An eye for an eye.” Yet, very early, rabbis were emphasizing that such a call did not demand retribution. Rather, it was a call to mercy. “If someone hurts you, you are not allowed to escalate to conflict. The most you can do is what that person has done to you. However, it is preferable that you do nothing violent in return for what has been done to you.”

The rabbinic tradition taught: “If you cause someone to be blinded, you must become that person’s ‘eyes’ for the rest of his life. “An eye for an eye.’” This is restorative justice.

When Jesus was confronted by a crowd about to stone to death a woman accused of adultery, he responded, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

The churches are called to seek such restorative forms of justice, emphasizing the reconciliation to which we are called in Christ.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! All this if from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:16-18)

Our reconciliation to Christ finds its fulfillment in our reconciliation to one another.

As long as we regard even one other person as beyond redemption, then we are not fully reconciled to Christ.

It is the Church’s responsibility to see every person as a child of God, regardless of what that person has done. By an act no matter how heinous, a person cannot move outside the circle of God’s unconditional love. We have been called by Jesus to love even our enemies. How can we choose to kill a person whom Jesus calls us to love?

Capital Punishment

The death penalty has been in effect in the United States since colonial days. It has historically been seen as a means of justice (“let the penalty fit the crime”) and as a deterrent.

The fallacy of these arguments is readily apparent when studying the facts.

• The death penalty does not serve as a deterrent. In fact, according to Amnesty International, in the United States, the 38 states that still sentence people to death have a higher homicide rate than do those 12 states that have abolished capital punishment.
• There is no economic benefit to capital punishment. It costs 2-3 times as much to execute an individual (due to trials, appeals, security, etc.) as it dos to incarcerate that person for life.
• Studies have shown that race and economics are vital factors regarding the death penalty. The poor are far more likely to be sentenced to death than the well off. Ethic minority persons are more likely to face the death penalty than are those of the dominant culture. Further, those who murder a Caucasian are far more likely to receive a sentence of death than are those who murder a person of color.
• Capital punishment is widely used in the United States. While Connecticut has not experienced an execution in over 40 years, an execution date has now been set for Michael Ross on January 26, 2005. There are currently 8 people on death row (5 prosecuted by one state’s attorney) and many others currently being charged with capital offenses.
• The United States is the only major Western democratic nation in the world that still executes some of its citizens.

Many will cite statistics, indicating that the majority of those surveyed stated that they favor the death penalty. In fact, this is so when people are asked “Do you favor or oppose the death penalty?” About 65% of respondents answer “favor” to that question. However, when asked: “Do you favor the death penalty when the alternative is life imprisonment without parole?” the percentage who indicate a preference for the death penalty drops to about 48%. When a third question is asked, “Do you favor the death penalty when the alternative is life imprisonment, with no parole for at least 25 years, plus some form of restitution for victims’ families?” the percentage of those supporting capital punishment continues to drop, now down to about 30%. (Stuart Banner, The Death Penalty’s Strange Career, in the Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2002, p.74.)

Clearly, society, when give the alternative, is seeking more restorative forms of justice and polling data only serves to underscore the moral reservations and ethical objections that a large majority of the general public have about the death penalty. An alternative to capital punishment seems to be a realistic option in the public mind. While this fact is important, our position is taken irrespective of what prevailing public opinion might be. That is, our primary pastoral concern is to admonish our membership and, secondarily, to inform the public debate.

The carrying out of an execution is an admission by the state of defeat. It says, in short, that the state does not know how to deal with capital offenders and leaves it no alternative to executing them. The viable alternative of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is dismissed and the dynamics of reconciliation are discarded. The state is reduced to a morally untenable position—killing someone in order to prove that it is wrong to kill someone.

Conclusion

We all upon the state of Connecticut to abolish capital punishment and to seek restorative rather than retributive forms of justice.

We also call upon Congress of the United States to abolish the federal death penalty, including its most recent expansion.

We further call upon the members of the Christian Conference of Connecticut (churches and members) to live out the call of Christ to a ministry of reconciliation.

We commit ourselves as members of the Board of Directors of the Christian Conference of Connecticut to advocate in the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut for the abolition of the death penalty at the earliest date possible.

Signatories

Elder James H. Bennett
Presbytery of Southern New England, Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Maria Coleman
New England Conference, The United Methodist Church

The Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, Bishop
Diocese of Norwich, The Roman Catholic Church

The Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree, Conference Minister
Connecticut Conference, United Church of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Robert C. Dvorak, Superintendent
East Coast Conference, The Evangelical Covenant Church

Presiding Elder Herbert L. Eddy
First Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church

The Rev. George Engelhardt, District Superintendent
New York Conference, The United Methodist Church

Dr. Heidi Hadsell, President
Hartford Seminary

The Rev. Dr. Alvan N. Johnson
First Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church

The Most Rev. William E. Lori, Bishop
Diocese of Bridgeport, The Roman Catholic Church

The Most Rev. Henry J. Mansell, Archbishop
Archdiocese of Hartford, The Roman Catholic Church

Mr. Minot B. Nettleton
Diocese of Connecticut, The Episcopal Church

Bishop Jeremiah J. Park
New York Conference, The United Methodist Church

The Rev. Margaret Payne, Bishop
New England Synod, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Ms. Allyson Platt, Chair
Commission on Social Concerns, Christian Conference of Connecticut

Father Demetrios Recachinas
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

The Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Sidorak, Jr., Executive Director
Christian Conference of Connecticut

The Rev. Dr. Samuel N. Slie
Connecticut Conference, United Church of Christ

The Right Rev. Andrew D. Smith, Bishop
Diocese of Connecticut, The Episcopal Church

The Rev. Bruce A. Steinway
New England Synod, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Bishop Peter D. Weaver
New England Conference, United Methodist Church

Please take a minute to contact your legislators now, so we never have another execution
in Connecticut!