At a recent virtual event on Catholicism and capital punishment, people with personal experience with the death penalty shared powerful stories. Vickie and Syl Schieber’s daughter, Shannon, a 23-year-old Wharton School doctoral student, was raped and murdered in Philadelphia. Kirk Bloodsworth, an honorably discharged Marine, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton.
As devout Catholics, the Schiebers believe that every human life has value. So when their daughter’s killer was caught, they pleaded with the district attorney not to seek the death penalty, believing that another killing was not the answer. Against their express wishes, the district attorney pursued a death sentence.
Bloodsworth spent eight years on death row before the newly emerging science of DNA proved that he was not the killer. Bloodsworth converted to Catholicism during that time and always believed that God was by his side and had a plan for him. His faith in God is what got him through that difficult time.
I have seen more cases where injustice was carried in a death sentence rather than justice, whether it be a wrongful conviction or constantly forcing victims’ families to relive their tragedies. The Schiebers and Bloodsworth have all been deeply affected by the death penalty and believe that it should be abolished. After hearing both stories, I, too, can only hope for the abolishment of the death penalty.
Lauren Cosey
Greensburg
The writer, an intern with Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, will graduate from Seton Hill University, Greensburg, in May with a criminal justice degree.