America executed 46 people in 2010, down from the 2009 total of 52 but still a notable increase from the 2008 total of 37. Since 2007, we have executed a total of 179 people (counting the executions on 21 September 2011). Texas, Alabama, Ohio, Virginia, and Oklahoma are the states with the most executions since since 2007.
I have mixed feelings about Capital Punishment and I'll use recent executions to explain.
Yesterday, Texas executed Lawrence Russell Brewer for his involvement in the dragging death of James Byrd, a black man, in 1998. As reported by CCN, "Prosecutors said the crime, which they described it as one of the most vicious hate crimes in U.S. history, was intended to promote Brewer's fledgling white supremacist organization. During his 1999 trial, they called Brewer a racist psychopath."
My Thoughts: There apparently was no questionable evidence, testimony recantations, or last minute appeals to present new evidence in this case. And there is no doubt this crime was appropriately categorized as a Hate crime. In my view, Lawrence Brewer gave up his human rights when he killed Byrd, and he deserved to die. How could we allow a man like this to live out his days in a Maximum security prison? I would call Brewer an animal, except animals do not torture other animals because of the color of their skin (or fur). This remarkable behavior is exhibited only by the most intelligent species on earth: Humans
In the hours, days, weeks and months preceding yesterday's execution, Davis' supporters argued that his conviction was based on the testimony of numerous witnesses who had recanted. Davis' defense team had tried unsuccessfully to submit a new analysis they say shows ballistics testimony at his trial was "inaccurate and misleading." In addition, a federal judge found in 2010 that a jailhouse informer's testimony that Davis confessed to killing MacPhail was "patently false" and that prosecutors knew a key eyewitness account was wrong. The Davis case also caught the attention of Pope Benedict, South African anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter - they all said the execution should have been called off. Amnesty International and the NAACP led efforts to exonerate Davis, and U.N. human rights officials joined those calls also.
Nonetheless, the US Supreme Court ultimately rejected the last-minute stay and allowed the state to proceed with the execution. Davis was declared dead at11:08 p.m. ET, professing his innocence up to the very end.
Davis' supporters argue he was the victim of a rush to judgment by police seeking justice for the death of one of their own, as well as widespread racial prejudice in the criminal justice system. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, said several other inmates have been proven innocent in recent years. Supporters argued that the original witnesses who testified against Davis were fearful of police and spoke under duress. Other witnesses also have since come forward with accounts that call Davis' conviction into question, according to his supporters.
My Thoughts: This execution should not have happened. Testimony was recanted, technical evidence was contrary, etc. etc. Davis' case should have been re-tried. If the Prosecution was so sure of his guilt, they should have been able to prove it CONCLUSIVELY despite the recanted testimonies and tainted evidence. Under our legal system we are supposed to be presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt - what happened to that for Troy Davis?
And Warnock makes a sadly valid point: racism has been, and continues to be, a malignancy in our Justice system. I am not so naive to believe that a black man gets the same fair shake as a white man, particularly in the South and especially when a white police officer is killed. For years, we have put innocent people in jail so the police could close their case and the Prosecution could count another "win." Even though African Americans currently make up only around 12 percent of the general population, they have made up 41 percent of death row inmates, and 34 percent of those actually executed since 1976.
And, right here in the Land of the Free, we've come too close to executing many innocent men. According to Amnesty International, "In the last 25 years, 102 innocent people have been released from death row." But it gets worse: we haven't just come close, we've carried out several wrongful executions. You can read up on this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution. There are no "do-overs" when an innocent person is put to death.Even though there is strong evidence that it is not a deterrent to violent crime, the bottom line is that I support Capital Punishment - but only in cases of willful crimes of moral turpitude (heinous crimes) where there is absolutely no doubt of guilt.
What are your thoughts about Capital Punishment?
SOURCES
- http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2011/0918/Death-penalty-Top-5-countries-to-execute-the-most-people/United-States
- http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/21/justice/texas-dragging-death-execution/index.html?hpt=ju_c2
- http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/justice/georgia-execution/index.html?hpt=ju_c1
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_debate#Racial_factors_in_the_United_States
- http://www.aclu.org/stop-execution-innocent
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_debate#Execution_of_innocent_people
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution
- http://www.ncadp.org/index.cfm?content=25
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