Capital Punishment & Catholic Social Teaching: A Tradition of Support - Paperback

by David H. Lukenbill (Author)

This book is a defense of the scriptural and traditional Catholic position of support for capital punishment in response to calls for its abolition. Based on scripture and tradition, calls for abolition are premature, though, in a positive sense, the call has generated a renewed focus on not only the magisterial history of this most ancient of teachings, but also its theological resonance within the expression of that teaching by the Fathers of the Church-ancient and modern-who most deeply reflected on it. While Catholic social teaching has always supported capital punishment, it has been opposed by some in the Catholic hierarchy as an unnecessary criminal justice tool, with current criminal justice technology being presented as providing adequate protection of the innocent against the aggressor.

Author Biography

David H. Lukenbill was a criminal-thief and robber-for 20 years, serving 12 of those years in maximum security federal and state prisons. He eventually transformed himself through education, (AA in Criminal Justice-Sacramento City College; BS in Organizational Behavior and Masters in Public Administration-University of San Francisco) many years developing and working with criminal transformative organizations (including founding and directing, for three years, one of the most successful college-based programs for former criminals in California) studying the social teaching, and God's grace discovering and being baptized into the Catholic Church.