December 13, 2005
The Wages of Death
from - smijer
Tookie Williams was executed this morning.
The results?
Nothing.
If anything Tookie was doing while in the joint made society a better place, if he was making partial restitution to society for the harm he caused... well, that's over. Justice can no longer be served.
No one is any safer. Execution does not deter violent crime.
The families of the victims do not have their loved ones back. At least one, mentioned in the LA Times article, understood ahead of time that retaliatory killing was an empty promise, if it was to provide solace. She is paraphrased this way: "Lora Owens said she did not expect the execution to end the ache over losing her red-haired stepson, Albert, who was killed with a shotgun at the age of 26 while working at a Pico Rivera 7-Eleven late one February night in 1979. But watching the killer take his last breath, she said, might help her 'let it go' just a bit."
So far, no riots. No "aspiring rappers and NBA stars", looking for "an excuse" to riot, as Neal Boortz predicted.
All that money, the risks of putting innocent people to death... all those messages we send about how we treat white lives as more valuable than black ones... were for absolutely nothing. It's hard to think of a greater waste.
Governor A. believed Tookie should die because he wouldn't confess to the crimes. John Cole agrees. I side with TalkLeft - his refusal to confess is only a crime if he was truly guilty - and we can never know for sure - in any case, really, but especially in this one. TalkLeft cites this report on the problems of using testimony from sources with "incentive to lie".
Another grim summary. Who's better off with Stanley Williams dead? No one. Except maybe,... ironically..., Stanley Williams.
Posted by smijer at December 13, 2005 07:49 AM
I don't believe the issue was the death penalty since it's the law in California and the courts had repeatedly reaffirmed his conviction.
Instead it was whether he deserved clemency or not for his works behind prison walls--redemption as everyone has called it. And Arnold surprisingly was quite eloquent and correct (in my opinion) about that situation. See my post on the same subject. Believe it or not, I'm not a proponet of the death penalty.
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Posted by Deliverance on December 13, 2005 03:34 PM Link to comment |
Well, you know - assuming Arnold was correct about Tookie's guilt, a matter which is not settled beyond all doubt, then maybe he was right that he doesn't "deserve" clemency because he has failed to confess and apologize.
I don't know.
I tend to agree with that view as far as it goes... But I also believe that someone who, like Tookie, shows every sign of reform - apart from what may be a false confession - deserves the benefit of the doubt where it concerns clemency. Or maybe, I feel like we deserve to give him the benefit of the doubt.
That doesn't mean he "gets off" - it just means we don't kill him. He still serves the remainder of his life sentence (unless his conviction is overturned by new evidence?)... He still has the opportunity to repay some of his debt.
My thinking is that - with the possibility that he didn't commit the crime, we are not forced to hang him for being unremorseful... we can judge his efforts to reform on their own merits... Why would a governor turn that opportunity down?
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Posted by smijer on December 13, 2005 04:05 PM Link to comment |
"Why would a governor turn that opportunity down?"
If you don't like the death penalty -- and there are legitimate reasons not to -- then work to get the law changed. Work to get the state government to outlaw capital punishment and convert those on death row to life without parole.
But don't make your poster boy for clemency a guy who killed at least 3 people in cold blood, that founded the Crips gang (who have killed who knows how many), that hasn't been an overly outstanding prison citizen, and that was found be every court that reviewed his case to have been correctly and fairly tried, convicted, and sentenced.
The idea that we are "a nation of laws" is important. Perhaps that was one of the reasons that the Governator turned down the clemency request for Tookie.
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Posted by m on December 13, 2005 08:06 PM Link to comment |
"Execution does not deter violent crime." With the exception of the executionee. Odds are extremely good that Tookie will not be committing any more violent crimes. If that isn't deterence, what is?
"Who's better off with Stanley Williams dead? No one." Permanently removing a convicted triple-killer from the streets probably benefitted someone.
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Posted by m on December 13, 2005 08:14 PM Link to comment |
He was already permanently removed... killing him didn't change that.
And, of course, clemency is quite legal... And when it is legal and available to rectify an injustice under bad laws... I just don't see any reason to refuse it.
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Posted by smijer on December 13, 2005 08:43 PM Link to comment |
I can't help but laugh everytime I read the statement "we are a nation of laws".
Next thing you know somebody will claim that "they apply equally to everyone".
From what I have read Tookie died primarily because he would not grovel sufficiently.
It takes courage to face your death without weeping and wailing and begging the killers for mercy.
"Are you guys sure you know what you are doing?"
Classic last words to say to an executioner.
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Posted by Buck on December 13, 2005 11:11 PM Link to comment |
"And, of course, clemency is quite legal"
"From what I have read Tookie died primarily because he would not grovel sufficiently."
You are correct that clemency is legal, but grovelling -- regardless of how good or bad you are at it -- shouldn't be the basis of granting it(kind of like the school teacher that hooked up with the 14 year old student but couldn't go to prison because she was to pretty). Nor should the fact that there are a group of protestors standing outside the prison (or posting on Internet blogs) that are against capital punishment.
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Posted by m on December 14, 2005 08:18 AM Link to comment |
You're right, m... exactly on the money. The reason for doing it is that it's the right thing to do. And because the alternative undermines real justice.
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Posted by smijer on December 14, 2005 09:34 AM Link to comment |
