Presbyterian Church And Death Penalty

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 November 1949, Page 9

Presbyterian Church And Death Penalty

TIMARU,'- 1 This Day (P.A.)—“lt can be shown that capital punishment, particularly homicide, has a minimum value as a deterrent,” said the convener of the public questions committee (the Rev. J. S. Sommerville) in a debate on capital punishment at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand at Timaru. Other motives, often beyond the immediate control of the persons concerned, were more important in homicide and in many instances in which civilised countries had withdrawn the death penalty, the crime had not increased.

The committee deplored with everyone the incidence of murder, but careful investigation would be required before capital punishment was restored, said Mr Sommerville. There was the theological concept of the expiation element to be considered. A solution would be to build up a society where homicide could not have a cause.

The Rev. R. Geering, in seconding the approval of the report, said that it was a very wise guide to the thinking of the church on the subject. Statistics showed that there, was no deterrent value, and certainly no reformative element in capital punishment.