« Soriano | Main | Who Exactly Thought This Was a Good Idea? »
December 12, 2005
Vengeance is Not Justice
There's been a lot of discussion of the death penalty recently, especially as we see midnight approach for Stan Williams in California. I think we need to take a serious look at what constitutes justice in this country, and what constitutes vengeance.
I am not 100% against the Death Penalty. But the ultimate punishment must be reserved for the most extreme cases, and our society must benefit from the execution.
How does Stan William's death benefit our society?
Look - I'm not arguing that he shouldn't pay for his crimes. And his crimes were brutal. But life imprisonment while continuing his work to educate and prevent children from joining gangs is justice. I firmly believe that Death Penalty should be reserved for those who can never be reformed, and their crimes have an extra layer of malice. Hate Crimes. Terrorism. Serial Killers.
But we must ask ourselves - why are we so anxious to execute Stan Williams while Buford Furrow (who shot up children at a Jewish Community Center and then brutally murdered a Postal Carrier simply because he was a federal employee) gets to live out his days in San Quentin? I understand that Furrow accepted a plea bargain - was Stan Williams ever offered that?
One thing I am tired of hearing about is "Victims Rights". A misnomer that pro-death activists have latched onto in order to propogate their vision of Saudi-style "justice". Executing these criminals do not bring closure. It does not bring peace to these families. It is empty, state-sponsored vengeance. And vengeance is not justice. When we determine punsihment for crimes, we must consider society. What punishment does society demand for such a crime? Does anyone honestly believe that someone contemplates murdering another human, but changes their mind because they're afraid of the death penalty?
The death penalty is also very unjust in the cases in which it is applied. If you're African American, you are MUCH more likely to recieve death than if you are Caucasian, FOR AN IDENTICAL CRIME. There is a very real institutional racism that is present here, and for that reason many states have already placed a moratorium on the Death Penalty. Now this is certainly symptomatic of much deeper problems with race relations in our country, but surely we can start making steps in the right direction but calling for a halt on executions except in the truely rare case where society benefits.
Tim McVeigh. Osama Bin Laden. Eichmann.
But not for the guy who shoots the clerk while robbing the convience store. While reprehensible, and certainly worth life imprisonment - we should not kill. We are only surrending our morality for a brief emotional fix that ultimately accomplishes nothing.
Vengeance is not Justice.
Posted by MikeSager at December 12, 2005 8:49 AM
Trackback Pings
To send a Trackback, please use:
http://www.carpetblogger.com/cgi-bin/mt-whattocheck.cgi/186
Comments
I was talking to Antar about this as well. He asked me why Stan Williams had to die, while Charles Manson is still alive.
I posed this question to some Stardustians at a party the other night, and they all looked at me like I was an idiot. "Well...Manson was incarcerated before the death penalty was reinstated [dummy]."
A technicality, but one that allowed them to sidestep the point and crack jokes about "Tookie" for a while longer. No one seemed to think that the man should have lived. (I agree with you, I think he should have served life in prison and continued his work.)
I'm so tired of my white friends continuously acting like know-it-all assholes when it comes to race issues.
Posted by: Miss Rose at December 21, 2005 11:52 AM
Post a comment