ARNOLD C Englander

The New Hampshire legislature repealed the death penalty in 2019 by a bi-partisan, two-thirds majority. There has been no upsurge in homicide since then. In fact, New Hampshire has the lowest homicide rate in the nation. The criminal justice system is fallible. The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, at least 200 people who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated. For examples, I refer you to Barabara Keshen and her decades of experience in this area. The penalty for capital murder in New Hampshire is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. That is sufficient to keep those who have committed capital murder from harming the public again. The death penalty violates the moral codes advanced by most major religious groups, including Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. The New Hampshire Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester were among the groups that worked for years to repeal the state’s death penalty. Personally, and as an officer of the Greater Concord Interfaith Council, I believe that executing humans is not within the jurisdiction of any human-run judicial system. It is strictly a Divine prerogative. For these reasons, I oppose the reestablishment of the death penalty in New Hampshire. Thank you. Sincerely, Arnold C. Englander, Ph.D., Vice President of the Greater Concord Interfaith Council