Reflection in New Hampshire

"Death penalty debate: complex and infinite," reflects on the recent death sentence, handed down in New Hampshire; the first in the state in 49 years.  It was collected by Michael McCord.

When a New Hampshire jury handed down the state's first death sentence in a half-century last month, the decision not only ensured years of court appeals, but another phase in the never-ending and complex moral and legal debate over society's harshest punishment.

Michael Addison, 28, was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection for shooting and killing Manchester police officer Michael Briggs in October 2006. New Hampshire's last execution was in 1939, and the state last imposed the death penalty in 1959, but the sentence of the two murderers was commuted to life in prison in 1972, when the U. S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, more than 1,100 inmates have been executed and 30 states have death penalty statutes. But the questions raised in court cases throughout the 20th century about the constitutionality and justice of the death penalty have been matched by experts and citizens who passionately debate its morality and ultimate value.

Seacoast Sunday asked four local religious leaders to share their thoughts about the death penalty.

Earlier coverage of the death sentence is here.