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Commentary: Further Points for Dialogue on the Death Penalty, the Church, and Our Profession

Dr. Young is Attending Psychiatrist, Whiting Forensic Division, Connecticut Valley Hospital, Whiting Maximum Secure Service, Middletown, CT, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Address correspondence to: John L. Young, MD, Connecticut Valley Hospital, Whiting Maximum Secure Service, PO Box 70, Middletown, CT 06457. E-mail: john.young{at}po.state.ct.us

The invitation to dialogue on the subject of the death penalty is both important for our time and challenging in what it calls forth from us. It forces us to recognize both the fundamental privacy of individual intention and the potential breadth of its reach. It can deepen our sense of responsibility for what happens to others on our account, even in the apparent absence of intention. The astonishing power of the spoken word should be harnessed by cooperative dialogue to focus its consequences more sharply on the demands of justice. We need dialogue to attend faithfully to our deepest obligations and longings.