And though I will not today be arguing our position against the death penalty, I have taken the liberty to furnish the Task Force with a copy of my remarks attached to which is a recent statement of the Florida Bishops, a joint statement they issued with Protestant leaders in Florida, and another joint statement issued with Jewish leaders. Before addressing the three main issues, I want to say a word about our genuine and ongoing support for survivors of victims. The deep pain and very real anguish lived by families of victims cannot be fully understood by most of us. Some of you on the Task Force have suffered firsthand this agony of losing a loved one to a terrible, horrific crime. Our churches and communities cannot do enough to bring comfort into the lives of these grieving families.
Justice demands that survivors receive the greatest care and compassion possible.
In time we hope our society will be able to resist the very natural, the understandable desire, to take the lives of those who have committed such terrible wrongs. In our view, such capital punishment serves only to feed a climate of violence in our society, and mistakenly sees killing as a solution to the problem. In truth, capital punishment is not a solution to the problem of violence and murder. Racism in application of the death penalty. Any criminal penalty, and especially the death penalty, must be based on justice.