Hello, my name is Ben Griffith. I'm the Secretary of the Kentucky Coalition to
abolish the death penalty, but more importantly I am a murder victim family
member. My brother Chris was murdered in 1986.
Contrary to what a lot of people think, victims, families often do not want the
death penalty. For me it was a an inside moral direction. The only way my
world made sense was for me not to want to put the man who killed my brother
to death. Today I'm talking to you because there are lots of us out there who
oppose the death penalty and who have had a loved one murdered. In fact today
we're talking about releasing some friends of mine who are murder victim
family members also. We have pooled together our money and we're going to
issue a challenge to coalition members to everybody to match us dollar for
dollar the amount of money that we have raised up $1,640. To help us out I'd
like to invite you to visit our webpage at kcadp.org and you'll find a link
there that will direct you on how to donate. You can use secure PayPal there.
It's easy. Please join us.
As I am made deeply uncomfortable by the taking of a human life before birth, I am also
made deeply uncomfortable by the taking of a human life after birth.
Obviously, it can be well argued that the world would be better off if certain people
had never been born or if they had been killed in early youth by a fall from a tree.
And I certainly can imagine circumstances in which I might kill another person, but I
don't believe that mere humans have the mental or moral capacity to decide rightfully,
let alone infallibly, that another human should be killed.
As I don't condone the illegal killing of a human by a human, I cannot condone the legal
killing of a human by a human.
One killing is not rectified or atone for by the addition of a second.
And the illegal killing is in no way made better by a legal killing.
A society is not made sainter or more morally secure by the deputation in it of legalized
killers.
Whereas many illegal killings are done in hot blood, legal killings are always done in cold
blood and with a procedural deliberation that is horrifying.
Hot blooded killing is of course horrifying also, but to me it is more understandable.
Probably we have no choice against illegal killing, which continues to happen against
the wishes of nearly everybody.
But it is possible, morally and rationally, to choose to withhold one's approval from
legal killing and I so choose.
