50 Execution Quotes Debating Capital Punishment

By Clifton Sankofa | Published July 9, 2023

Our execution quotes are guaranteed to spark meaningful conversations about the ethics and impact of state-sanctioned killings.

Capital punishment has been a means governments and empires have used to quell crime and seek accountability for thousands of years.

However, is it time for us to move on from these practices?

Check out our execution quotes below to find out more.

What is an execution?

The term execution can have a few meanings.

For some, to execute means to put a plan or course of action into effect.

However, we will focus on the other meaning of the word, which is the carrying out of a death sentence of a condemned person.

Check out these death penalty facts below:

56% of Americans feel the death penalty is not fairly administered.
A majority of states have the death penalty, but few use it regularly.
Polls suggest six of ten American adults favor the death penalty for murderers.

Is the death penalty effective?

Is capital punishment hypocritical by nature?

Victor Hugo was the literary giant who gave us classic pieces of literature such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables.

Hugo spent much of his life working as an abolitionist to end slavery.

However, he also questioned the morality of capital punishment.

He wrote, “What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!”

The notion of murder to quell murder seems hypocritical by nature, and Hugo passionately implored governments to change their policies.

What countries lead the world in executions?

Nationals across the globe use capital punishment to deter crime and keep citizens accountable.

However, many disagree with how state-sanctioned executions impact our society.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, China leads the world in executions, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and The United States.

American writer and actor John Fugelsang questions the logic of these practices.

He notes, “Only in America can one be pro-death penalty, pro-war, pro-unmanned drone bombs, pro-nuclear weapons, pro-guns, pro-torture, pro-land mines and still call yourself ‘pro-life.’”

The topic of execution is nuanced and complex.

People naturally will have different perspectives on the validity of capital punishment.

To learn more, check out our execution quotes below.

Short execution quotes about capital punishment

These powerful quotes from passionate figures shed light on how many people feel about state-sanctioned executions.

1. “Morality is never upheld by a legalized murder.” — Coretta Scott King

2. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” — Mohandas Gandhi

3. “Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life.” — Coretta Scott King

4. “An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation.” — Coretta Scott King

5. “People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

6. “I do not think that God approves the death penalty for any crime, rape, and murder included.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

7. “I appeal for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.” — Pope John Paul II

8. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

9. “With every cell of my being and with every fiber of my memory, I oppose the death penalty in all forms.” — Elie Wiesel

10. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Famous execution quotes about ending state-sanctioned execution

These quotes from inquisitive minds question the impact of executions.

11. “We are all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” — Bryan Stevenson

12. “Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders.” — Albert Camus

13. “The reality is that capital punishment in America is a lottery.” — Bryan Stevenson

14. “To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” — Desmond Tutu

15. “What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!” — Victor Hugo

16. “Is the death penalty utilized on a fair, impartial basis? Absolutely not.” — Helen Prejean

17. “I think this country would be much better off if we did not have capital punishment.” — John Paul Stevens

18. “Capital punishment is shaped by the constraints of poverty, race, geography, and local politics.” — Bryan Stevenson

19. “We cannot ignore the fact that in recent years a disturbing number of inmates on death row have been exonerated.” — John Paul Stevens

20. “I am haunted by the demon of error; error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die.” — George Ryan

The best execution quotes about the death penalty from the world’s brilliant minds

Below are musings about execution from some of the most intelligent folks from past to present.

21. “Dying is not a punishment, except for the manner of how the execution may be carried out.” ― Kenneth Eade, An Evil Trade

22. “The axe decapitates a head, society’s ills get quickly shed. Can we trust what we don’t see? The masked executioner’s decree.” — Stewart Stafford, The Damned Axe

23. “The movie Dead Man Walking opened a level of discussion. Who’s going to ever be close to an execution? It’s like a secret ritual.” — Helen Prejean

24. “States without the death penalty have had consistently lower murder rates. And national murder rates have declined steadily since 1992, despite fewer executions.” — S.E. Cupp

25. “I have yet to see a death case among the dozen coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Related 20 Sokka Quotes For Avatar Fans

Additional quotes about the death penalty from the brilliant minds

Below are a few more musings about execution from people from past to present.

26. “And to top it off, for those of you who are interested in the economics it, it costs more to pursue a capital case toward execution than it does to have full life imprisonment without parole.” — Ralph Nader

27. “Being close to suffering, death, executions, and cruel punishments didn’t just illuminate the brokenness of others; in a moment of anguish and heartbreak, it also exposed my own brokenness.” ― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

28. “In 1958, Dr. King led a prayer pilgrimage to Montgomery to protest the State of Alabama’s execution of Jeremiah Reeves, a Black 16-year-old accused of raping a white woman and sentenced to death by an all-white jury.” — Equal Justice Initiative

29. “The racial terrorism of lynchings in many ways created the modern death penalty. America’s embrace of speedy executions was, in part, an attempt to redirect the violent energies of lynching while ensuring white southerners that Black men would still pay the ultimate price.” — Bryan Stevenson

30. “I have reached the conviction that the abolition of the death penalty is desirable. Reasons: 1) Irreparability in the event of an error of justice, 2) Detrimental moral influence of the execution procedure on those who, whether directly or indirectly, have to do with the procedure.” — Albert Einstein

The top execution quotes about legality and reform

These quotes question if the death penalty is still the most effective means of accountability.

31. “Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.” — Pope John Paul II

32. “The extinguishment of life itself is not torment. That is why capital punishment is not a punishment at all and does not deter crime.” ― Kenneth Eade, An Evil Trade

33. “The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process.” — Kofi Annan

34. “Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

35. “I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don’t think it’s human to become an agent of the angel of death.” — Elie Wiesel

More execution quotes about its legality

Here are a few more quotes questioning if the death penalty should be a form of justice.

36. “If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well.” — Helen Prejean

37. “Capital punishment is against the better judgment of modern criminology, and, above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

38. “A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.” — Pope John Paul II

39. “Can the state, which represents the whole of society and has the duty of protecting society, fulfill that duty by lowering itself to the level of the murderer, and treating him as he treated others?” — Kofi Annan

40. “On the steps of the state capital, Dr. King called the execution a “tragic and unsavory injustice” and pointed out “the severity and inequality” of the death penalty, exemplified by the killing of Jeremiah Reeves.” — Equal Justice Initiative

Execution quotes and sayings about ending the death penalty

Check out these thought-provoking anti-death penalty quotes.

41. “The profound moral question is not, ‘Do they deserve to die?’ but ‘Do we deserve to kill them?’” — Helen Prejean

42. “Our criminal justice system treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent.” — Bryan Stevenson

43. “Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offenses; even more seldom are they executed.” — George Ryan

44. “Are we cheating the families of the victims of the 98% of all murderers who are never executed out of their closure and retribution?” — Helen Prejean

45. “The under-representation and exclusion of people of color from juries has seriously damaged the credibility of the criminal justice system.” — Bryan Stevenson

46. “When people of color are killed in the inner city, when homeless people are killed, when the ‘nobodies’ are killed, district attorneys do not seek to avenge their deaths.” — Helen Prejean

47. “In the US, the overwhelming majority of those executed are psychotic, alcoholic, drug-addicted, or mentally unstable. They frequently are raised in an impoverished and abusive environment.” — George Ryan

48. “The most glaring weakness is that no matter how efficient and fair the death penalty may seem in theory, in actual practice it is primarily inflicted upon the weak, the poor, the ignorant and ‘minorities.’” — Pat Brown

49. “As one whose husband and mother-in-law have died the victims of murder and assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses.” — Coretta Scott King

50. “Black, Hispanic or poor families who have a loved one murdered not only don’t expect the district attorney’s office to pursue the death penalty, which, of course, is both costly and time-consuming but are surprised when the case is prosecuted at all.” — Helen Prejean