This volume bears the marks of careful discernment, scholarly analysis, and contemplative listening on the part of the editors and contributors. A communal effort of the faculty of Mount Saint Mary's University and other collaborators, Where Justice and Mercy Meet is designed to advance the outreach efforts of the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN).
On the advice of Sister Helen Prejean, the editors begin and conclude each chapter with a narrative focal point and questions for further consideration that integrate stories with the author's main points. As the editors note, this text represents the fruit of many overlapping layers of community, from those who are incarcerated to abolitionists to pastoral ministers to scholars. The method of the text reflects the integrity of the editorial process and invites the reader to remember the reality of human interrelationship in the face of a form of state punishment that definitively interrupts relationality by taking human life.
The relational method of the text also shapes the content, which offers a comprehensive, well-researched treatment of capital punishment spanning a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, theology, biblical scholarship, law, economics, theater, political science, special education, and sociology. Restorative justice serves as the primary lens for interpreting the data and historical context in the United States, offering a dialogical, process-oriented approach that effectively prepares ground for constructive engagement across the ideological spectrum on this polarizing issue. Vicki Schieber, Azim Khamisa, Antoinette Bosco, and Marietta Jaeger, all parents of murder victims, witness to the power of a justice that heals, illuminating the corrosive and destructive dynamics of the retributive view of justice underlying the death penalty.
The matrix of race, class, intellectual disability, and socioeconomic poverty that results in the grossly disproportionate imposition of capital punishment upon the most vulnerable members of US society gives shape to the final section of the text. Introducing this material, the editors ask, “Is it the case that the least of us…are most at risk of being executed? If so, what does this say about our society?” (163). Embedded in these questions is an invitation to adopt a sharper cultural analysis of US society, particularly at the intersection of race and class. This vein of research would be worth further exploration in a subsequent volume. The cultural blindness of white supremacy undergirds continued support for the death penalty, but this insight remains unstated in the text. As a white theologian, I find in the editors' questions an urgent prompting to recognize my own complicity in a system of state execution designed to protect white privilege.
For those teaching ethics across the disciplines at the undergraduate level and engaging ecclesial communities on the issue of capital punishment, this text is an essential and highly accessible resource. Designed so that the chapters can stand alone, it lends itself well to topical exploration in relation to broader course themes. In her foreword, Helen Prejean offers sage advice for delving into this volume: “Go immediately to the chapter that most attracts you, most draws you in, and start there. That's mainly how the Spirit of Love moves us—through attraction” (xiii).
