We don’t execute enough, and when we do, we stupidly execute the reformed.
California really doesn’t execute enough prisoners. We have a lot of people in prison who have no interest in rehabilitating themselves, in making restitution for their crimes, or in anything other than themselves. If they’re ever let out of prison, they will return to crime and continue to make life miserable for themselves and others. The appropriate thing to do in their cases is to humanely end their lives and make the death penalty an actual deterrent, instead of the ceremonial waste that it currently is.
The current prisoner up for execution, Stanley “Tookie” Williams, is another example of how useless and wasteful California’s death penalty is. Of all the guys that should be executed, Tookie isn’t one of them.
Yes, he started the Crips; yes, he killed four people that we know of; no, he hasn’t helped prosecutors get other Crips members. But Tookie is doing something productive for society. He’s trying to discourage kids from joining gangs. He’s using what notoriety he has to promote worthwhile causes; I may not agree with all of them, but that’s beside the point. I also don’t think he should be released from prison either. That’s also beside the point. The death penalty should be reserved for people whose very existence has been proven harmful to society. Tookie doesn’t fit that description anymore.
Of course, there are lots of people who are against the death penalty in every circumstance because they’re pro-lifers. I don’t agree with them, and think many of them behave like idiots. The guy, fr’instance, in front of the state capitol with the sign asking the governor, “Would you kill an Austrian?” What difference does ancestry make? If Schwarzenegger, a Catholic, is willing to ignore the positions of his own church and let executions go forward, I don’t think he’d care if the guy on death row hails from his homeland.
The problem is that emotional appeals only work on individuals. Government is a whole different kind of animal. In order to get government to move, you either have to make it affect someone’s political future, or you need to find a politician who actually has convictions that can’t be moved by anything. (And that politician will have to already be against the death penalty; but it won’t make any real difference unless that politician is the governor.) We don’t have too many of the second variety; we have many who claim they are, but they typically sell out by the end of their first terms. Note, fr’instance, all those Republicans in the House of Representatives who swore they’d only serve two terms then come home. That was ten years (five terms) ago. Power corrupts.
There’s also the fact that most of the people who get executed in the U.S. are black. Hence, many people call it the “racist” death penalty. Maybe it is. Certainly our society hasn’t done very much to support African American families who want to escape poverty, prosperity, a lack of political control, and the various problems that make kids choose the criminal way out. If you don’t think rehabilitation will work, you won’t choose that path; and you’ll invite the death penalty. But that doesn’t really make the death penalty racist; it reminds us that the system is racist and still needs reforming. But since I’m white, any suggestions I make for improvement are going to be disregarded as suspect and possibly racist anyway, so I won’t waste your time with them.
In any event, if you’re Californian, write the governor about Tookie and express your concern. Try not to sound stupid.