Atheism & the Death Penalty.

[Catholic_Lady]

I'm not an atheist, so I didn't vote. But my answer wouldn't be up there anyway. 

From the Catechism: 

Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."

So basically, the death penalty is only ok if that is the ONLY way to keep society safe from a killer. But if we are able to lock someone up for life, we no longer need to use the death penalty. Nowadays, we have the means of doing this, so a death sentence is no longer necessary and should not be used.