Mother Earth Is A Vicious Crowd

At about 12:01 AM tomorrow morning Stanley Tookie Williams is scheduled to be executed. You can get the whole story about that here here or here.

I do not agree with the death penalty. I dont know if its my Christian upbringing or liberal morality, but I believe the death penalty is wrong. 1st, there is never enough certainty in any conviction to give the ultimate punishment. 2nd, its not our place to take the lives of others, ever.

Now, personal opinion on the institution of the death penalty aside, if ever there was an opportunity to give clemency, this would be it. Tookie was a bad bad man. He killed several people and is responsible for the deaths of many more. The court has decided that he should die for these things. Were I a supported of the death penalty, I would agree. Those actions fit the criteria for execution. A person who does those kind of things has done irreparable harm to society and has nothing to offer it.

Heres where clemency comes in. Clemency is (according to wiki) the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime itself. Since his incarceration, Tookie has done many things to help reduce gang violence. He has been nominated 6 times for the Noble Peace Prize for his efforts. He is no longer a threat and is clearly giving back to society. Do I want him to be allowed to go free and come over to my house for Xmas dinner? Hell no. He must pay for his crime. There are also many things he can do to better our lives. Things he can not do if his life is taken 12 hours from now.

Cartoon found here.