Baptist min­is­ter and civ­il rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton spoke in oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty in a recent debate at the Yale Political Union. Sharpton not­ed the dis­propo­tion of blacks who are to sen­tenced to death com­pared to whites. He also raised con­cerns about the risk of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, point­ing out that many inmates have been exon­er­at­ed from death row. He said the low­er mur­der rates in states that do not have the death penal­ty indi­cate the death penal­ty does not deter mur­der. ​“We are not pre­vent­ing any­thing, and we are not pro­vid­ing jus­tice,” he con­clud­ed. ​“We can­not answer mur­der with mur­der.” Student rep­re­sen­ta­tives from a vari­ety of polit­i­cal groups offered argu­ments both in favor of and opposed to the death penalty.

At the end of the event, stu­dents vot­ed on whether or not the death penal­ty should be repealed, with a strong major­i­ty in favor of abo­li­tion.

(P. Huang, ​“Sharpton con­demns death penal­ty,” Yale Daily News, September 3, 2014; Photo by Karen Yang, Yale Daily News). See New Voices and Religious Views.

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