The kidnapping rate in Mexico City has increased 35% from 2006 to 2007, and all signs are pointing to a continuation of that trend through 2008. Most recently in the news was the kidnapping and murder of Fernando Marti, the fourteen year-old son of a wealthy owner of Grupo Marti SAB de CV, a sporting goods company, despite the fact that his family had already paid millions in ransom money. Some members of Mexico’s police forces are believed to have been involved in arranging the kidnapping. The fear of kidnappings–especially of young sons and daughters of wealthy Mexican residents–that is gripping Mexico has correlatively risen with the kidnapping rate. I recall one of my own middle school students from Mexico once telling me that his wealthy parents sent him to the U.S. for school precisely out of their fear that he would be kidnapped and ransomed.
According to a recent survey conducted among Mexico City residents, 71% say that they would like to see the death penalty imposed upon kidnappers. Currently, the Mexican Constitution outlaws the use of the death penalty as an administration of justice. Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, has proposed life sentences for captured and convicted kidnappers, torturers, and murders, as well as for those members of the police force who are caught abetting in these crimes. Such a toughening of Mexican criminals laws and penalties would expand maximum sentencing, which current stands at a limit of 50 years. This past Monday, Mexican officials deployed an anti-kidnapping force to respond to public criticism of the high rise in crime since Calderón took office. Not only are civilians being kidnapped, but high-profile officials and police are being targeted for murder. Still, the public outcry over the seeming ineffectiveness of police forces and the demand of many Mexican citizens for the institution of the death penalty may force Calderón and the Mexican legislature to consider legalizing capital punishment.
Armando Martinez, president of the College of Catholic Lawyers in Mexico, is warning the public that the institution of the death penalty would be a step backward in justice:
Speaking to reporters, Martinez explained the position of the College regarding the approval of the death penalty for kidnappers. “We think the death penalty deters absolutely nobody (from committing a crime). The option of life in prison needs to be studied. If it is not something that is not an infringement, we could accept it,” he said.
Martinez pointed to the United States as an example, where despite the use of the death penalty, “crime and violence continue to be rampant, with 14 year-olds murdering their peers.”
“The death penalty is punishment upon punishment, that is, we would be falling into vengeance, and when will it end? If you kill a criminal, there will be a sense of hatred and vengeance and it will be a circle that never ends,” Martinez argued.
He said that crime can be reduced through education and building a society in which the rule of law is respected.
Martinez, who led the efforts on conducting a referendum to overturn Mexico’s City legalization of abortion, is correct from the Catholic moral standpoint. As heinous as kidnapping and torture are (let alone murder of children), the death penalty is not a proportionate punishment for these crimes, nor can it be determined that it is necessary measure without first attempting to clean up the Mexican police force, increasing anti-kidnapping efforts, establishing and enforcing tougher laws, and reforming the penitentiary system.
I understand the outcry for instituting the death penalty stems from the public’s fear, rage, and desire for justice which followed from Marti’s murder. However, I think from a rational and moral point of view, Calderón and Martinez are correct in their thinking. Calderon’s initiatives to toughen laws and penalties for kidnappers, torturers, and murders, as well as the concerted effort to crack down on these criminals, need to be tried first. The restrictions that Catholic teaching puts on the use of the death penalty by the State are not to be taken lightly, and Martinez is admirably doing what he can to raise awareness of this fact among the public of Mexico.
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