Death Penalty Facts and Figures
States: As of September 2023, a total of 23 states have abolished the death penalty and three others are under governor declared moratoriums. More than two-thirds of U.S. states— 37 out of 50 — have either outlawed capital punishment or have not carried out an execution in at least 10 years.
California: The death penalty is still a legal form of punishment in this state. Since March 2019 there has been a moratorium on executions, however. The last execution in California took place in 2006. As of Jan. 2, 2024, there were currently 650 inmates on death row.
Federal: President Biden’s Department of Justice declared an official moratorium on federal executions in July 2021.
At the national level, the Office for Life, Peace, and Justice works closely with the Catholic Mobilizing Network, which is a Catholic organization aligned with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to advocate and educate against the death penalty in the United States.
In California, the office works with California People of Faith to work toward ending the death penalty within California. Locally, San Diegans Against the Death Penalty works closely with the office to promote awareness in regards to capital punishment and state sanctioned executions.
Catholic Social Teaching
Rooted in both Scripture and the rich tradition of our faith, Catholic Social Teaching is a guide for how to live as a people of justice and mercy.
The death penalty violates several of the core themes of Catholic Social Teaching, first and foremost being the belief in the inherent dignity of the human person. It is this core tenet of our faith that informs Church teaching on the death penalty. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes reference to this glaring violation in its section on capital punishment:
“Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.
“Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.
“Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”
