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Stronger Than Murder: Mercy Must Replace the Death Penalty

Stronger Than Murder: Mercy Must Replace the Death Penalty

Last updated on: August 26, 2025 at 9:42 am by Jeff Hood

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Stronger Than Murder: Mercy Must Replace the Death Penalty 2025-08-26T09:42:11-06:00 Jeff Hood

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Mercy and the Death Penalty

The Death Penalty Is About Us

The death penalty is not just about crime. It’s not just about punishment. It’s not just about the worst things people have ever done. The death penalty is about us. It’s about our refusal of mercy. It’s about our unwillingness to believe that love is stronger than death.

Every time we murder someone, we confess. We confess that mercy has a ceiling. We confess that our imagination for redemption ends where our fear begins. We confess the evil in our own hearts.

The Scandal of Mercy

Mercy has always terrified us. It’s beautiful when it’s cheap…when it costs nothing. But when mercy meets a murderer…when mercy embraces blood…when mercy stands in the chamber…mercy becomes scandalous. Mercy becomes unbearable.

And yet mercy is at the heart of the Gospel. Mercy is Jesus on the cross, refusing to curse his killers, shouting into the empire’s face… Father, forgive them. Mercy is defiance of death…especially death at the hands of the state. Mercy is a declaration that only God gets the final word.

What the Death Penalty Pretends To Do

The death penalty pretends to heal…but it can’t. The death penalty pretends to protect…but it only teaches us how to be better killers. The death penalty pretends to close wounds…but it rips them open wider. Mercy alone heals. Mercy alone protects. Mercy alone says…the story’s not finished.

I’ve watched executions. I’ve breathed the air of the chamber. I’ve heard prayers choked out by chemicals and gas. I’ve seen the tears of mothers…from both sides…comingling in the same puddle on the floor. That’s the truth the state will never admit…executions multiply grief. They don’t end it…they multiply it.

The Power of Naming

People ask…But what about the monsters? I tell them the truth…if mercy’s not for the monsters…then it’s not mercy at all. Mercy is not a reward. Mercy is not for the deserving. Mercy is for the condemned. Mercy is for those we fear…those we hate…those we despise…those who sicken us…those we’d rather forget.

The death penalty says some people are trash. Mercy says no nobody is trash. The death penalty says the story is over. Mercy says God is still writing. The death penalty says…there is no more hope. Mercy says…hope is the only thing left.

Mercy vs. Justice

The prophets cried…Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. Notice, justice was never meant to stand alone. Justice without mercy is just vengeance blessed by legality. Justice is not justice without the promise of resurrection. Justice without mercy is the death penalty.

So, I return to mercy. Mercy is not neat. Mercy is not easy. Mercy is not safe. Mercy costs everything. Mercy cost Jesus his life. Mercy will cost us our pride…our fear…our certainty. Mercy will cost us the illusion that killing can ever save us.

And mercy’s costly now…because the killing hasn’t stopped. In fact, it’s only ramping up. The machine of death keeps turning. The state keeps scheduling. The calendar of executions keeps filling.

The Names of the Condemned

There are ten executions coming up in the next two months. Ten lives the state is preparing to erase. Ten nights where the machines will hum…the silence will fall heavy…and we will embrace the evil of the destruction of mercy. I speak their names now…because I demand that mercy know their names.

And so we speak mercy over…

Curtis Windom, August 28, Florida
Ralph Menzies, September 5, Utah
David Joseph Pittman, September 17, Florida
Geoffrey T. West, September 25, Alabama
Blaine Milam, September 25, Texas
Roy Lee Ward, October 10, Indiana
Lance C. Shockley, October 14, Missouri
Robert Roberson, October 16, Texas
Richard Djerf, October 17, Arizona
Anthony Todd Boyd, October 23, Alabama

Say their names. Pray their names. Let their names echo against the walls of our hearts until we realize that mercy is not abstract. Mercy is not an idea. Mercy is flesh and blood. Mercy has a name. In fact, mercy has ten names.

The state will try to destroy these names. But mercy refuses to destroy. Mercy remembers. Mercy insists. Mercy declares that no one is beyond love.

The death penalty is about us. It is about whether we’ll have the courage to say their names…to remember their humanity…to choose love in a world drunk on vengeance…to remember mercy.

Why Mercy Is the Only Way

Mercy is the only thing strong enough to stop the killing. Mercy is the only thing strong enough to save us from ourselves. Mercy is the only way.

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About The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a theologian, writer, and activist who has spent years ministering to people on death row. As a spiritual advisor and witness to executions, he speaks out against state violence and calls for a society rooted in justice, mercy, and the sacredness of life. You can read more about the author here.

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