I'm now officially opposed to the death penalty. And it's strange that with all the thinking I've done about it, my reasoning came down to a single concept.
My whole thought process began about 12 hours before the scheduled execution of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, self-professed creator of the notorious Crips gang in the U.S. His basic story is that in 1981 he was convicted on 4 counts of murder for crimes that to this day he denies he committed (well not to THIS day, because on this day he's dead), and sentenced to be put to death. While on death row, he apparently turned his life around, writing a slew of anti-crime books for children. He was even nominated for the prestigious Nobel Peace prize, while behind bars.
Over the years, Tookie's life started to appear to be a life worth saving. Despite pleads to California Governor, Arnold Schwarzeneger ('The Terminator', ironically) and to the Supreme Court, Williams was denied clemency, and on Tuesday morning at 3:01 a.m., he was put to death via lethal injection.
B allowed me to vent somewhat on Monday night as I explained how I felt about the whole situation. I couldn't help but think, Williams is behind bars making a positive difference, isn't his a life worth saving? And if it isn't, what good is clemency in the world? But then I thought about the families who have grieved and are to this day still in pain over loved ones lost, losses that a jury believed were due to Williams. Don't they deserve justice? How should they feel if the Governor were to let Tookie off the hook?
The reality is, however, that life-imprisonment can hardly be considered as being 'off the hook'. That's certainly not a way I'd want to spend my life. Was it worth more to have Williams locked up, but continuing to pay back society for the negative he added to it? Well, the powers that be didn't think so. And as cruel as it is, the families (some of them anyway) that waited for years for justice cared little about the positives he did. They just wanted him dead.
I'm digressing somewhat. The reality is, if I said everything I've been thinking for the past 2 days this post would be eternal. But in the end, my position on the death penalty was reached by this thought- I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that, at 2 a.m. that morning I went to bed KNOWING that when I woke up at 4 or 6 or 10, this man would be dead. It just made no sense for me. I don't know if that's the way God intended lie to be. The inevitability of death in itself is testament to the fact that it's an act we shouldn't be carrying out ourselves. Killing is a job that's above our payroll. Making it legal hardly makes it better.
I wonder what tune I'd be singing if my child was murdered.
5 comments:
That last statement is always the hard part.
"I wonder what tune I'd be singing if my child was murdered."
And intresting statement, but a wrong way to view a penal system.
Justice is not synonimous with Revenge/Vengance.
It is the consiquence of and action.
A justice system is geard towards punishing those who violate Societies rules.
The Death penalty is the extrememe form of such.
To take life in a given manner exacts a punishment that requires yours. An eye for an eye has it merits.
I also look at it in a more practical light, the state/society can not afford
to rehabilitate these mental deviants, as such, for the greater good there lives must be forfeit, sounds cold I know, but its the nature of things, resouces are limited, why should the convicted murderer live better than the poor man on the street.
Mind you, I know prison is not 'a bed of roses', but Society can not afford to create parasites, as those who enter or penal system become.
I was wavering with you but after reading Thinkbases blog I realized thath these people are Deviants, their thinking is very different from ours. It is near impossible for them to have a positive input into our Society. In other words they aren't apart of our world, they live in a world that contradicts and goes against much of what we hold dear.
In that light, u realize this goes beyond punishment. When 2 specie cannot co-exist, then one has to go. This not the mere punishment of a crime, but this is a matter of national security. This has now becomes a war. Howver, I must say, fighting this war does not mean just killing them, it also means getting the roots out. We must cut (kill) the weeds that stifle our society, but also we must stop that seed from spreading, how we do this I dont know yet, but force alone is not the answer, likewise and answer without force is futile.
Don't ignore the reality. For the masses, the death penalty IS revenge. Nevermind what the lawbooks say. If it weren't, Williams wouldn't have been killed.
Clemency was rejected because he wouldnt admit to the crimes. Because he wouldnt admit, 'Arnie' couldnt say for sure whether his new outlook on life was genuine. So I wouldnt say this particular case was one of revenge.
I still don't know what to think of the whole thing. I read somewhere once that death in itself isn't a penalty/punishment, so in that light, it simply gets rid of the criminal elements in society.
I think I may comment as a post...
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