In my article entitled, Death Penalty Problem, I explained the author Goodman's views on the death penalty. I do not agree with the death penalty, especially after findings that the procedure is botched, but I would like to go more in depth about the death penalty and clarify exactly why I am sure it is a horrible procedure, despite the botched methods being used.
Some general facts about the death penalty are, there were 74 executions carried out in 1997 alone, and over half (37) happened to occur in Texas. Between 1977 and 1997, the USA put 432 prisoners to death, and over a third of those were in Texas alone. Per the previous article I wrote, I explained that Texas has now put on suspension all death penalty sentences until after the Supreme Court makes its decision on the use of lethal injection as the method. It has also been found, that there is a racial bias among prisoners sentenced to the death penalty. For example, although nearly half of all murder victims are black, 82.62 per cent of those executed nationwide were convicted of the murder of a white.A study conducted for the Dallas Times Herald in the mid-1980s showed that the killer of a white was anything up to 10 times more likely to receive a death sentence than the killer of a black victim. Of the 144 prisoners executed up to the end of 1997, 127 (88 percent) were executed for the murder of a white victim. Yet approximately 58 percent of murder victims in Texas are from ethnic minorities.
These numbers alone do not add up. The judicial system is too biased, as proven above, to administer a punishment as permanent as death with all of the biases and human errors that exist. The whole purpose of the judicial system is to provide equal justice and liberty for every US citizen, but so far, it has shown to do just the opposite. In an ideal world, minorities and majorities would be equally executed depending on the severity of the crime committed, but our country has just not gotten to that place. Until then, innocent people who may just have been at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong skin color are being murdered under the name of justice, and Texas is at the forefront of it all. Thanks to the Supreme Court, Texas has ceased using the death penalty for now, but what happens when a fool-proof technology is found that eliminates the error involved with lethal injections. From the trend, it looks like Texas will be right back at the forefront.
To top it all of, racial minorities are over represented on Texas death row. As of Jan 1, 1998, Texas' death row comprised 436 men (171 white, 173 black and 89 Hispanic, including 11 Mexican nationals and three others) and six women (four white and two black): a total of 442. Is it possible that Texas is too eager to execute minorities due to an underlying current of racism? I will leave that for you to decide.
To read more about Texas and the death penalty go to http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510101998
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
"Death Penalty Problem"
A commentary in the Boston Globe by Ellen Goodman entitled Goodman: A Problem with Execution outlines the author's feelings on the Supreme Court taking another death penalty case. This case is meant, not to decide on the constitutionality of the death penalty, but rather on the current popular method being used, the lethal injection. The Supreme Court is to make a decision on whether or not the lethal injection method should be used to execute inmates on death row. Of course, we all know, Texas is the foremost state in capital punishment.
Lethal injection, for those of you who don't know, is a drug cocktail. The first drug puts the inmate to sleep, the second paralyzes, and the third stops the heart. Goodman sites several cases in her article supporting the fact that, even with the "sophisticated" methods we have of killing an inmate painlessly, the injections, are in fact, botched. She sites the dyslexic doctor from Missouri who openly stated he miscalculated doses and the Lancet study stating that half of inmates were still conscious when they received the heart stopping drug.
She ends, "We are tinkering, tinkering, tinkering to avoid the possibility that we can't have our death penalty and our humanity too." In this aspect, I would have to agree with her. The end result of the death penalty, no matter how the person is actually executed, is ultimately death. Whether it be injections, hanging, drawing and quartering, or the overly "cinematized" firing squad, someone always ends up dead, as we Texans seem to know all too well.
My question, however, is this. Why spend time worrying about how the execution is carried out? Is it because we feel more humane sleeping at night knowing we killed a person, but he or she died painlessly? While I am all for killing people with dignity, I have to wonder, if we are so worried about the methods used (in fact Texas has actually suspended all death row sentences pending the Supreme Court decision) why use it at all? It obviously has not been done right no matter how many technological advances we have dedicated to the act, so why waste the time? I would feel worse knowing that I told someone they would die painlessly and in all reality, they felt every agonizing second of it and couldn't express the pain. In fact, I have a feeling the paralyzing drug is more for the executioners rather than the executes. Either way, I am taking Goodman's side in this situation. I see the irony in this situation.
Read this article for yourself at http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/10/11/1012goodman_edit.html
Lethal injection, for those of you who don't know, is a drug cocktail. The first drug puts the inmate to sleep, the second paralyzes, and the third stops the heart. Goodman sites several cases in her article supporting the fact that, even with the "sophisticated" methods we have of killing an inmate painlessly, the injections, are in fact, botched. She sites the dyslexic doctor from Missouri who openly stated he miscalculated doses and the Lancet study stating that half of inmates were still conscious when they received the heart stopping drug.
She ends, "We are tinkering, tinkering, tinkering to avoid the possibility that we can't have our death penalty and our humanity too." In this aspect, I would have to agree with her. The end result of the death penalty, no matter how the person is actually executed, is ultimately death. Whether it be injections, hanging, drawing and quartering, or the overly "cinematized" firing squad, someone always ends up dead, as we Texans seem to know all too well.
My question, however, is this. Why spend time worrying about how the execution is carried out? Is it because we feel more humane sleeping at night knowing we killed a person, but he or she died painlessly? While I am all for killing people with dignity, I have to wonder, if we are so worried about the methods used (in fact Texas has actually suspended all death row sentences pending the Supreme Court decision) why use it at all? It obviously has not been done right no matter how many technological advances we have dedicated to the act, so why waste the time? I would feel worse knowing that I told someone they would die painlessly and in all reality, they felt every agonizing second of it and couldn't express the pain. In fact, I have a feeling the paralyzing drug is more for the executioners rather than the executes. Either way, I am taking Goodman's side in this situation. I see the irony in this situation.
Read this article for yourself at http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/10/11/1012goodman_edit.html
Monday, October 1, 2007
Inconsistencies in Texas Courts
An article in the Houston Chronicle entitled, Sentencing leniency: One criminal's many cases, outlined one repeat offender's long record and the lack of consistency in sentencing this particular criminal.
Kevin Earl Lee, a cocaine-addicted, homeless, war vet with over 20 years of criminal history including theft, drug possession, assault, burglary, and trespassing was recently sentenced to the minimum sentence of 6 months in jail for his repeat offenses when the prosecutor agreed to a plea agreement. Lee has a total of 28 convictions.
Chuck Rosenthal, the senior district attorney for the county in which Lee was convicted, states that Lee's prosecutor, Tina Ansari, "now regrets giving Lee a minimal sentence." She is "embarrassed" and she has "realized she made a mistake."
Most of Lee's crimes were misdemeanors and state jail felonies, so he is considered a "petty criminal," but how long and how many crimes does he have to commit for the state to consistently punish him? He has been given the minimum or no sentence so many times, that over 20 years of committing crimes he still has not learned his lesson. Had the state given him a harsher sentence, he may not be in the position that he is now, homeless and a petty thief.
What boggles me, is that Texas is a state that has the highest track record out of the whole United States when it comes to sentencing prisoners to death row. Granted, none of Lee's crimes were deserving of a death row sentence, but it surprises me to see how inconsistent the state courts are in sentencing the lesser criminals. You would think that a state so adamant about executing people would have stern sentences for even its small time crooks. After someone has had as many convictions as Lee had, you think it would be time to truly punish him with harsher sentencing. Lucky for him, he has been able to avoid being sentenced as he should, but in my opinion, a lack of stern sentences perpetuates the cycle of criminal acts because there is no lesson being learned.
Rosenthal said his senior prosecutors will discuss how to offer more consistent and uniform sentences to defendants willing to plead guilty, so there is less disparity among the courts. They will submit a proposal to him for approval. That is a good start, but like I always say when it comes to approvals and matters of state, act upon it first, and then I will believe you.
If you want to read this article for yourself, you can find it at
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5157126.html
Kevin Earl Lee, a cocaine-addicted, homeless, war vet with over 20 years of criminal history including theft, drug possession, assault, burglary, and trespassing was recently sentenced to the minimum sentence of 6 months in jail for his repeat offenses when the prosecutor agreed to a plea agreement. Lee has a total of 28 convictions.
Chuck Rosenthal, the senior district attorney for the county in which Lee was convicted, states that Lee's prosecutor, Tina Ansari, "now regrets giving Lee a minimal sentence." She is "embarrassed" and she has "realized she made a mistake."
Most of Lee's crimes were misdemeanors and state jail felonies, so he is considered a "petty criminal," but how long and how many crimes does he have to commit for the state to consistently punish him? He has been given the minimum or no sentence so many times, that over 20 years of committing crimes he still has not learned his lesson. Had the state given him a harsher sentence, he may not be in the position that he is now, homeless and a petty thief.
What boggles me, is that Texas is a state that has the highest track record out of the whole United States when it comes to sentencing prisoners to death row. Granted, none of Lee's crimes were deserving of a death row sentence, but it surprises me to see how inconsistent the state courts are in sentencing the lesser criminals. You would think that a state so adamant about executing people would have stern sentences for even its small time crooks. After someone has had as many convictions as Lee had, you think it would be time to truly punish him with harsher sentencing. Lucky for him, he has been able to avoid being sentenced as he should, but in my opinion, a lack of stern sentences perpetuates the cycle of criminal acts because there is no lesson being learned.
Rosenthal said his senior prosecutors will discuss how to offer more consistent and uniform sentences to defendants willing to plead guilty, so there is less disparity among the courts. They will submit a proposal to him for approval. That is a good start, but like I always say when it comes to approvals and matters of state, act upon it first, and then I will believe you.
If you want to read this article for yourself, you can find it at
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5157126.html
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