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Critics often claim you cannot be pro-life and support the death penalty simultaneously. They say the two positions contradict each other, but the facts tell a different story.
I believe the real inconsistency would be defending unborn children who never had the chance to have their voices heard while ignoring victims whose voices were stolen by crime and violence.
The pro-life movement honors life and knows that every innocent life has value. That includes the child who never had the chance to speak and the victim who can no longer cry out for justice. Ignoring either one is moral inconsistency.
Capital punishment is not vengeance. Rather, it is justice. Since 1976, the United States has executed more than 1,600 people convicted of the most brutal crimes. These cases are rare and deliberate. They often involve multiple victims, children or crimes marked by extreme cruelty. In those moments, society must speak with its strongest voice.
The process is built intentionally to heavily favor the defendant. Death penalty cases carry more safeguards than any other. They include options for appeals, state Supreme Court reviews and federal habeas corpus reviews. On average, a case takes 15 to 20 years before an execution is carried out. This is not a system that pushes retaliation. It is where justice is served.
Some argue the death penalty does not deter crime, but research says otherwise. Studies have found each execution may prevent three to 18 murders. Even without deterrence, one fact is clear: Those guilty of the worst crimes will never again have the chance to silence another innocent voice.
The American people understand this, and more than 50% support the death penalty for murder convictions, according to Pew Research. Among Republicans, support rises to nearly 80%.
Families of victims also understand it in the deepest way. The Parents of Murdered Children group has said that abolishing capital punishment denies justice to their loved ones and prolongs their pain.
Indiana is a state that values and upholds rule of law, and the rule of law exists to protect the innocent. Our Constitution was not written to shield those who destroy life but to secure it for those who respect it.
Romans 13:4 says, “For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.”
Punishing evil is not cruel. Our laws declare that every heartbeat matters, from those who never had the chance to speak to those who were silenced too soon. Justice must give voice to the voiceless. A society that refuses to do both will fail the very people most in need of its protection.•
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Beckwith, a Republican, is the 53rd lieutenant governor of Indiana and serves as the president of the Indiana Senate. Send comments to [email protected].
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And of course Micah Beckwith would like to be the one in authority, the one with the sword.
THis man is ao certain. A quick Google search turned produced this: “more than 5.5% of all death sentences imposed in the U.S. over the past 50 years have been overturned or resulted in exoneration due to prosecutorial misconduct alone.”
“Since 1973, more than 200 people sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated. ”
I guess every once in a while, you just have to say “oops, sorry we executed the wrong guy”?
Beckwith doesn’t realize he’s pro-forced birth, not actually pro-life, and his confusion cascades from there.