No death penalty for New Hampshire
Is New Hampshire ready for a giant step backwards? Several bills reinstating capital punishment are coming to the 2026 NH Legislature.
Opposition to the death penalty cuts across religious faiths. The Roman Catholic Church calls capital punishment “morally inadmissible.” Most mainstream Protestant churches and other faith traditions in New Hampshire have adopted pro-life positions on it. The majority of people who don’t belong to any organized religion oppose it as well.
I’ve long believed capital punishment is wrong, regardless of guilt or innocence, mental competence, even the heinousness of a crime. My feelings about this didn’t change when my own daughter was murdered in New Hampshire. My comfort is in a hope that the man who killed her will use his life now to help those around him in prison. If we were faced with the finality of an execution, it would close the door on the possibility of such redemption.
States should never be in the business of killing. Taking a human life shows a stunning lack of faith. It claims humans know best by declaring, “If Divine justice doesn’t satisfy our lust for revenge, the state must take matters into its own hands.”
Let’s not play God.