Saturday, November 12, 2005Should root out all those involved:
I want to personally thank The Birmingham News editorial board for all its research into the death penalty in Alabama. The News has displayed much bravery for exposing what's wrong with the judicial system in general and especially as it is applied to executions in our state of Alabama. I am so proud of The News for taking this long-needed stand for truth.
I can hear the cries of those who do not want to hear what The News has written. They will push their fears and tears, but what are they saying really? That because they were hurt, innocent people should continue to be executed and we should maintain our broken system as it is. Don't let the politicians fool you or badger you with talk that twists the truth. There are indeed innocent people on Death Row and elsewhere in our prisons. The judicial system in Alabama needs a thorough revamping.
The United States is the last industrialized country to maintain the death penalty. What does that say to the rest of the world other than Americans are still barbarians?
Our children go to war for our freedom. They die for our freedom. Yet when it comes to actually expecting a fair trial, it doesn't exist unless the accused is rich. That's not what our children gave their lives for.
Sherry Swiney
Alabaster
The innocent are sentenced to die:
I would like to thank the editorial board for its courage and dedication to enlighten minds and give rational views of the biased and indiscriminate way in which the death penalty is applied in the state of Alabama.
I speak not as some ill-informed, bleeding-heart liberal, but as a conservative who believed the system was infallible, and that if a man was found guilty then the conviction was right. However, from 1990 to 1997, I observed firsthand the system of justice in this state and my views are forever changed. I know that innocent people are sentenced to die; and that the ability to pay for legal counsel is an absolute necessity (not because attorneys don't care about their clients, but the lack of adequate funding is a real deterrent to an adequate defense).
I also learned prison is not a place to bask in free time, eating chocolates and playing games. Death Row is as close to hell as you can get: inadequate food, inadequate medical care, no dental or vision care, no amenities, no luxuries, far from home and from family and friends. Those who think prison is a vacation have never been there to visit or to stay locked up in a 5-foot-by-8-foot cell 24/7. There's no human contact, nothing to occupy your time - just the thoughts of the electric chair.
I speak from experience: no longer seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, but as the supporter and intercessor of a former Death Row inmate who was granted a new trial by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. The court ruled in his favor because the state had withheld crucial blood evidence from the defense and allowed an innocent man to be sentenced to death. Although he was found not guilty at retrial, he still spent 5½ years in hell for a crime he did not commit. And the guilty party, who took the life of a precious, godly woman, is still free today. This is Alabama justice believe it or not.
I am aware there are those who are guilty of the crimes for which they are convicted, and they should be punished; but the truth still stands that the death penalty is applied unfairly in our state.
Brenda Padgett
Guntersville
Can't compare inmates, fetuses:
As a person who has served on a jury for a capital offense, I know a little about this subject. The subject of "value of life" and comparing Death Row inmates and unborn babies is patently ridiculous. The two have nothing to do with each other. One is a helpless innocent; the other a vicious murderer.
When people commit offenses that they can reasonably assume could bring them to Death Row, they have chosen to run that risk. An unborn baby has no decision in the matter.
Death Row is not inhabited with unborn fetuses or innocent people. Rightly or wrongly, they have been established through due process of law to be guilty of a crime worthy of death. Life is not guaranteed to us by the Constitution or nature's law. Those who commit crimes are the ones who propel themselves out of this life.
The statistics and graphs say to me what I think they are intended to say. Blacks (specifically young and male) are disproportionately found on Death Row. This moves The News to the intended conclusion that as a predominantly white society, we must be motivated by racism. That is a classic example of white-liberal guilt. Blacks are disproportionately found on Death Row for a simple reason: Young black males commit more of the crime. Hence, they are arrested more, convicted more and jailed more. The simple fact is: The death penalty is hard enough to get a jury to accept. The crime has to be clear-cut, the evidence has to support it and still there can be dozens of hours of jury deliberation before many people are willing to put someone else to death.
What you have on Death Row are, with infinitesimal exceptions, the worst of the worst members of society who have murdered one or more human beings. To fail to make them pay the ultimate price dishonors the lives of the ones they killed.
R.T. Davis
Cahaba Heights
Series sparks attention elsewhere:
I received a call from Bud Welch, board member of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an international organization that opposes the death penalty from the human rights perspective. Welch's 23-year-old daughter, Julie, was killed in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Welch not only found it in his heart to forgive Timothy McVeigh, but he tirelessly speaks out against the death penalty all over the world. To quote him: "The death penalty is about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate is why my daughter and those other 167 people are dead today."
When he called from Oklahoma, he had just returned from California. He asked me to congratulate The News and all who are working so hard for a moratorium in Alabama. Apparently, everyone in southern California was talking about The News' editorial.
Esther Brown
Project Hope to Abolish
the Death Penalty
Fredonia
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