Capital Punishment

Presbyterian General Assemblies have been concerned not only for the issue of capital punishment, but also for those imprisoned. The major policy statements of the past forty years have come in 1959, 1977, and 1978.

In 1959, the 171st General Assembly, "believing that capital punishment cannot be condoned by an interpretation of the Bible based upon the revelation of God's love in Jesus Christ," called on Christians to "seek the redemption of evil doers and not their death," and noted that "the use of the death penalty tends to brutalize the society that condones it."⁽¹⁾

In 1977, the 189th General Assembly called upon its members to:

"a. Work to prevent the execution of persons now under sentence of death and further use of the death penalty;

b. Work against attempts to reinstate the death penalty in state and federal law, and where such laws exist, to work for their repeal;

c. Work for the improvement of the justice system to make less radical means available for dealing with persons who are a serious threat to themselves and to the safety and welfare of society."⁽²⁾

The next year, 1978, the General Assembly went on record as saying "Capital punishment is an expression of vengeance which contradicts the justice of God on the cross." ⁽³⁾

The most recent statement was made in 1985 by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), reaffirming these positions and declaring "it's continuing opposition to capital punishment."⁽⁴⁾

1. Minutes of the 171st General Assembly (1959), United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., p. 384

2. Minutes of the 189th General Assembly (1977), United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., p. 485

3. Minutes of the 190th General Assembly (1978), Presbyterian Church in the United States, pp. 200-202

4. Minutes of the 197th General Assembly (1985), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), p. 84

Adapted from the Compilation of PCUSA Social Witness Policies.