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Dear Joe,
Your question tends to fall into a category of Questions we don't answer, (doing other people's assignments) but since you seem new to our faith, let me see if I can help and give you some references.
This is a common question; it's even in our searchable knowledge base:
AskACatholic.com/SiteSearch
There are a lot of quick answers there, so give it a try. I searched the knowledge base for you and found these web postings that may help:
Google AskACatholic Search results for: capital punishment
Make sure you read this one:
Under Legitimate defense, the Catechism of the Catholic Church also says this:
2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity
are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.
(Pope St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, No. 56.)
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If you are interested in the history of Capital Punishment going back to Jesus' time, you may find this article from the New Advent web site helpful:
You said:
- Is capital punishment considered acceptable according to sacred scripture?
No, Jesus' death on the Cross was a capital crime and thus capital punishment.
Popes, past and present, have had influence on capital punishment but I am not familiar with any exact details; you will have to research this yourself.
Summarizing the Catechism in my words:
Governments do have a prudential Christian judgment in determining a sufficient means to defend and protect the safety of their people from aggressors while, if possible, redeeming the offender.
I hope this helps,
As with any primary research you report on, make sure you appropriately source us if you use any of our answers. We do not wish to encourage plagiarism.
Mike
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