The Road of Bones

**The Webster Retort, Dec. 16, 2005**

By Stephen Webster

On Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005, a notorious figure faced the ultimate punishment dealt by our criminal justice system. Tookie Williams, the infamous founder of the Crips and convicted murderer of four, was put to death in California just after midnight, as so many other death row inmates have passed from this world. To be certain, the crimes our courts judge these men and women to be guilty of are odious and foul, many beyond the imagination of rational, law abiding citizens like you and I. The tales of violence and death are enough to chill the soul and rattle the conscious. Nevertheless, I believe the practice of capital punishment is simply stacking body upon body; a pointless endeavor that fails to achieve the intended purpose of deterrence. The Execution of a Killer only creates more Intolerance, Guilt and Death.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis R. Powell, Jr. once wrote, “[W]e are the only Western democracy that still has capital punishment. In my view, it should be abolished. Let me add just this: It does not deter murders. It serves no purpose.” Say what you will about the arduous death of Tookie Williams; I admit to knowing little of his case and the debate surrounding him in general. However, I feel that if he was indeed guilty of four cold-blooded murders, he deserves to feel the brunt of our system of justice. I do not presume to argue his innocence. But it is with regard to a penalty of life in prison without parole that I insist his death Was Not Just. Neither were the deaths of any of those convicted of crimes so heinous. Why? The capital punishment system is broken, costly and applied unfairly. Especially in Texas.

Justice Powell was right in declaring the death penalty to be ineffective. Many would point to the theory that the threat of death is a solid deterrent to criminals contemplating their next spree. But the exact opposite is actually the case. States without the death penalty have nearly half the number of murders than states with capital punishment.

Every Western Democracy has abolished the death penalty. The U.S.A. is the only country operating under this system of government in our entire hemisphere that continues to kill it’s condemned. Moreover, a study conducted by The Dallas Morning News in 1992 concluded that a death sentence costs taxpayers more through the appeals process than a sentence of life without parole. According to the DMN, an average of $2.3 million is spent appealing capital trials, whereas a single inmate can live out his or her days in a maximum security prison for about $750,000.

By God, as though living life behind bars in a place like an American Prison is not Cruel and Unusual enough, Texas prisons make sure to keep the Conveyer Belt of Death well greased. It saddens me to know the offense of the state is simple garnishment to the offense of a savage. There is no benefit, only more death. It is difficult for an objective observer to weigh murder against murder and judge the net gain. Such actions cheapen the perceived value of human life and bring society down to the level of those we would claim to detest.

I find one of the most offensive aspects of capital punishment to be the fact that 90 percent of prisoners sentenced to death row could not afford a lawyer. The figure is especially alarming considering the stories we hear about state-appointed attorneys. The most recent horror that comes to mind is the case of Calvin Burdine, whose lawyer, Joe Frank Cannon, fell asleep on numerous occasions during a Capital Murder trail.

Since 1990, the United States has executed numerous convicts for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18. Such state-sanctioned acts fly in the face of every international human rights treaty our nation has supported and fought for over the last 30 years. Only four other countries in the world have participated in the execution of children: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran. The sum total of child criminals off’d by these non-Western countries does not come to a number greater than our own tally. The United States government kills more of its prisoners than any other nation, second only to the Communist government of China. And the spread between us is not so wide.

It is not an easy thing to disregard the ferocity and sheer evil of those who would commit such crimes that would spurn civilized men to have this debate. It is assumed that the family and friends of any murder victim deserve to see justice served in a cold, efficient manor. But in my opinion, two wrongs can never make a right. Justice, I believe, is best served on cold cement, behind unfeeling bars, pinned down by a judicial order of life, without parole. They should be allowed no soft, warm escape to nothingness by the tip of a hypodermic needle. Not so long as their bodies still draw breath should such merciless killers be allowed a glimpse at anything outside the walls of their cage.

The death of one man cannot account or atone for the death of another. This, I truly believe. It is time for the practice of ‘Hypodermic Justice’ to end.

Stephen Webster is an Investigative Reporter and Syndicated Columnist with The News Connection, a Staff Columnist with George W. Bush’s hometown weekly The Lone Star Iconoclast, and a former Contributor to The Dallas Morning News’ Science & Technology section. For more of Webster’s musings, visit GonzoMuckraker.BlogSpot.com.

Posted by The Gonzo Muckraker on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at Tuesday, December 13, 2005 | Permalink