Pro-Life Ministry

CCC 2267 –  ‘…the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.

As of April 2024, capital punishment is legal in 27 out of 50 states including Missouri.  Only 10 of those states have carried out executions in the last 10 years.  When the prosecution seeks the death penalty in Missouri, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.  In the case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, the judge decides the sentence.  The power of clemency belongs to the Governor of Missouri after receiving non-binding advice from the Board of Probation and Parole.   No Missouri jury has successfully sentenced someone to death since 2013. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or gas inhalation.
In Missouri;

• There have been 98 executions since 1976. 
• 4 people were executed in 2023.
• There are 11 people currently on death row.
• There are 4 known people freed from death row. 
• For more information: https://www.madpmo.org/home