Blood Atonement and Capital Punishment in Mormon doctrine

Mormonism and Capital Punishment: A Doctrinal Perspective, Past and Present
by Marvin R. Gardner, originally published Spring 1979
ON JANUARY 17, 1977, Gary Mark Gilmore’s execution by a Utah firing squad ended an almost ten-year moratorium on capital punishment in the United States. The death penalty, at least in Utah, had again become a reality. Reaction to the Gilmore execution from the Mormon community indicated a general approval of the use of capital punishment in that case as well as a commitment to the institution of capital punishment itself. Numerous students interviewed at BYU defended the death penalty in terms of Mormon theology, believing that a clear church commitment to capital punishment exists. These defenses are not uncommon in Mormon culture generally. To understand such defenses it is important to examine not only what church leaders have said about the subject, but also what the Mormon people did about it. It seems less profitable to explore the old anti-Mormon claim that the Church or church members practiced extralegal capital punishment than to focus on how Mormon belief was expressed when Mormon legislators enacted secular capital punishment law. Since the capital punishment law in Utah was initially a product of Mormon lawmakers influenced by Mormon doctrine, an historical understanding of Utah law provides rich insights into nineteenth century Mormon thought about capital punishment.
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