Episcopal Press and News

Duffy Opposes Death Penalty

Diocesan Press Service. February 8, 1963 [VII-14]

Clinton T. Duffy, former warden of the California State Prison at San Quentin recently gave his views on the death penalty on Viewpoint, a weekly radio program of the National Council of the Episcopal Church. In answer to the question, "Do you believe in the death penalty?" Warden Duffy said the following:

"I do not, and I never have from the time I was old enough to know about it, growing up on the streets of Prisontown --San Quentin.... The states that do not have the death penalty and those that do-- there's no noticeable difference in the homicide rates. I don't think it answers any of the questions that we think it should. The man never thinks of the death penalty at the time of the commission of his act. I've asked everybody on condemned row that question and none of them have said that they thought of the death penalty.... I, too, have never known a wealthy man or woman who has been executed .... There are hundreds and hundreds of men who get lesser sentences and it's not equal justice at all. I would like to see it (the death penalty) eliminated throughout the whole United States and the world. "

Warden Duffy is presently the director of the San Francisco Council on Alcoholism and is the author of "88 Men and 2 Women. "

Viewpoint, an interview show conducted by the Rev. Dana Forrest Kennedy, is produced each week for the Mutual Broadcasting System and independent stations by the Radio, TV, and Audio Visual Division of the National Council. Ask your rector or your diocesan department of promotion for the broadcasting schedule in your area.