13 Ways of Looking at the Death Penalty by Mario Marazziti

Author:Mario Marazziti
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw
Tags: death penalty, capital punishment, crime, justice, court, prison, sentence, death row, united states, politics, current events, journalism, activist, research, policy
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2015-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

9.

Life Row

All ways of looking at the death penalty turn our eyes to the murder victim’s family members. Over the years, I have come to know many such people, including Arthur Laffin, Marietta Jaeger, Renny Cushing, and Bud Welch. To spend time with them is to try to understand the pain and sense of loss they feel; the process of rage, anger, despair, sorrow, and emptiness; the difficulties they find in coming to terms with the absence of the loved one who disappeared so abruptly and unexpectedly; the resignation and the hope of healing. I have learned a lot about life and death from each of these people. And I think there is a treasure of wisdom that we can learn from them, an “art of living” that goes beyond the death penalty, and that concerns life itself and how to live it. This is life row.

—

In 1999, Arthur “Art” Laffin’s brother, Paul, was stabbed multiple times by a resident as he was leaving St. Elizabeth’s homeless shelter in Hartford, Connecticut, where he had worked for ten years. He died shortly after. The man who killed him, Dennis Souta, was homeless and mentally ill. He would later be found mentally incompetent to stand trial and sentenced to sixty years at a Connecticut prison hospital.

Paul Laffin was killed at the gathering place of a community he believed in and was committed to serving. Now Art continues his work. A longtime organizer, speaker, and writer in faith-based movements for peace, justice, and nonviolence, Art is a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, DC. He has participated in an annual “Starvin’ for Justice Fast and Vigil” at the US Supreme Court to call for the abolition of the death penalty; has taken part in the Journey of Hope in North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia; he has spoken in Italy during Sant’Egidio’s “Cities of Life” campaign. At the end of October 2014, we were both in Manila, where we succeeded in promoting the first Asia Pacific Region Dialogue, “No Justice Without Life,” with thousands of young people, officials, and authorities. Later I learned that, as early as 1997, Art was arrested for unfurling a thirty-foot banner across the steps of the US Supreme Court that read “Stop Executions.” Art told me why he does what he does:

My family and I, and all who knew Paul, still grieve his senseless, horrific death. My brother truly gave his life for those he served. What happened to my brother is not uncommon. It is a societal disgrace that some of the mentally ill homeless, who fall through the cracks and are not properly cared for, end up committing lethal acts.

My family and I were appalled, but could not desire the death of someone who was not capable of dealing with his life. Evil creates sorrow and pain. More pain and more killing does not alleviate sorrow.

After Paul’s highly publicized death, my mother and I appealed to the public to show mercy toward Dennis and to pray for him.

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