By: Gerald F. Uelmen
Recent polls confirm a growing Catholic opposition to the
death penalty. A 1999 poll, conducted by the Missouri
Catholic Conference, asked Catholics, “[w]hich do you think is the
better penalty for murder—the death penalty or life imprisonment,
with absolutely no possibility of parole?” Catholics answered
40% death and 60% life imprisonment. A recent Zogby
International poll found that 49% of Catholics in the United States
agreed with the statement that “capital punishment is wrong under
virtually all circumstances,” while only 48% disagreed. These
statistics give rise to important questions involving jury
selection in potential death penalty cases. Can potential
jurors be asked their religion? Can Catholics even serve as
jurors in death penalty cases? Can Catholics, consistent with
constitutional limits on peremptory challenges, be systematically
excluded from juries in death penalty cases? And, should
Catholics allow their faith to affect their reasoning on whether a
defendant should be executed?
This article asserts that potential jurors can and, in
fact, are questioned about their religious affiliation during voir
dire. In addition, the article claims there is nothing in the
Catholic faith obligating a Catholic to hold a view that would
automatically disqualify them from sitting on the jury in a death
penalty case. In other words, a belief that would prevent a
potential juror from being “death qualified” is a personal belief
beyond that which is required by the Catholic Church.
Further, Catholics may not be systematically excluded from juries
in death penalty cases through the use of peremptory challenges,
simply for their religious affiliation. They can, however, be
selectively excluded based upon their individual beliefs.
Lastly, the article maintains that Catholics who serve as jurors in
death penalty cases need not ignore their religious beliefs.
Rather, a Catholic juror's religious beliefs should have much to do
with the momentous choice that death penalty laws impose on
jurors.