In recent weeks, commercials about clemency have flooded Nevada’s airwaves. Graphic descriptions of crimes and accusations about being “soft on crime” invite us to respond with fear before we understand what actually happened.
That deserves scrutiny. So does the long history of political campaigns using fear of crime in ways that reinforce racial stereotypes, especially when directed at candidates of color.
Before we accept the message, we should understand the process.
A sentence reduction does not necessarily mean release. Becoming eligible for parole is different from being granted parole. Nevada’s Board of Pardons Commissioners has nine members, and clemency requires at least five affirmative votes. The Nevada Independent’s reporting also found substantial overlap between Aaron Ford’s and Joe Lombardo’s clemency votes. These are collective decisions that deserve more explanation than a campaign commercial provides.
For people of faith, this conversation raises questions about accountability, human dignity, and whether our justice system leaves room for mercy.
For Lutherans, opposition to the death penalty is grounded in our understanding of justice, grace, and the responsibility to care for our neighbors.
The ELCA’s 1991 social statement, The Death Penalty, begins with the devastation caused by violent crime. It recognizes grief, anger, and the need for accountability, while warning that these experiences can make us vulnerable to revenge and promises of simple solutions. Following Jesus calls us toward restorative justice: attending to the harm experienced by people and communities while protecting the public and preserving the possibility of repentance.
The statement also challenges unequal treatment in capital punishment and the irreversible consequences of executing an innocent person. Its commitments are concrete: accompany victims and families, support ministries within prisons, pursue abolition, and direct Lutheran public policy offices to work toward that goal. LEAN’s advocacy carries forward this churchwide commitment.
Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry reaffirmed this teaching in his October 16 statement. Responding to a since-cancelled proposal to livestream an execution, he warned against turning the taking of human life into a spectacle. He connected the church’s opposition to our ministry of reconciliation and our responsibility to protect people, call those who cause harm to repentance, and seek restoration for those harmed.
Curry’s call extends to congregations: pray for everyone affected by violent crime, accompany people through suffering, study the church’s teachings, and urge public officials to abolish the death penalty.
For LEAN, these teachings call us to sustained action. We must advocate for an end to executions while working for grief counseling, trauma care, financial assistance, and long-term accompaniment for survivors. We must listen to families without requiring forgiveness and support accountability that recognizes every person’s humanity.
Our faith calls us to help build communities where people are safe, those who grieve receive care, and the possibility of redemption remains.
Our advocacy must also include sustained care for people whose lives have been changed by violence: grief counseling, trauma care, financial assistance, and accompaniment long after public attention moves elsewhere. Survivors have different experiences and convictions about capital punishment. We must listen without requiring anyone to minimize their loss or offer forgiveness.
As LEAN works to end the death penalty, clarity matters. Clemency addresses individual sentences. Abolition changes the punishments available under law. Nevada law restricts the pardons board from making certain adult death sentences or life-without-parole sentences eligible for parole. Ending a death sentence does not automatically mean eligibility for release.
As we prepare for the 2027 legislative session, LEAN will ask how any repeal proposal addresses both future prosecutions and people already sentenced to death.
We can protect our communities, hold people accountable, care for survivors, and end capital punishment. Our commitment to human dignity calls us to do that work together.
