An excellent paper on “Blood Atonement” is that of McKay V. Jones’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales!”: The Blood Atonement Balance Sheet. One important source that was not referenced is the following interview with Brigham Young after the execution of John D. Lee:
Correspondent—Do you believe in
blood atonement?
Brigham Young—I do, and I believe
that Lee has not half atoned for his great crime. The Saviour died for all
the sins of the world by shedding his blood, and then I believe that he who
sheds the blood of man wilfully, by man shall his blood be shed. In other words
capital punishment for offenses deserving death, according to the laws
of the land. And we believe that the execution should be done by
the shedding of blood instead of by hanging. If the murders of Joseph Smith
were to come to me now, giving themselves up, I would not feel justified in
taking their lives, but I would feel justified in having them taken to Illinois
and there tried for murder. (“Interview
with Brigham Young,” Deseret Evening News, 12 May 1877, p. 2. Reprinted
from New York Herald, 6 May 1877. Based on an interview in Cedar City,
April 30, 1877. Emphasis added)
The above stood out as it shows that, even
in Brigham’s theology of “Blood Atonement,” the sole meritorious cause of their
forgiveness is the atoning sacrifice of Christ, not their death, even if their
death is the instrumental cause thereof.