Throwing Stones
by Frank Sontag
"For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would
have to
punish a criminal who had warned his victim of
the date at
which he would Inflict a horrible death on
him and who, from
that moment onward, had confined him at his
mercy for months.
Such a monster Is not encountered In
private life."
—Albert Camus
Before I
write to you what It Is I want to express, let me first say that I have no
interest in changing your mind. I am not about to share this information with
you with the hopes that somehow you will see things my way. I do not write this
out of a desire to change you, I know that Is Impossible. People change when
they are ready to change. The truth is that I have to write about this
pain-filled subject because it is burning a hole in my soul.
As I write
this more than three thousand men and women are Incarcerated In eight-by-ten
foot cages all across
There were
many reasons for my complete turnaround on the death penalty. As I stated a bit
earlier, my intolerant endorsement of capital punishment was based in utmost
ignorance. I realized one day that I was vehemently in support of something I
knew absolutely nothing about. I decided from that moment on to take
responsibility for my views on this most controversial and complex issue by
informing and educating myself. As I began to read and study different
perspectives surrounding this issue what I found horrified me.
For example,
I discovered that I had no Idea how many murders were being committed in our
country annually. I was shocked to learn that each and every year about 16,000
people are tragically slain. I also found that contrary to my belief, the
majority of people murdered in the United States are killed by individuals that
they already know, not the vilified version of the cold-blooded killer we see-
daily on the five o'clock news. I also did not know of the class bias that the
death penalty promotes. Ninety percent of all the people on death row could not
afford an attorney so they were appointed a public defender, who. In many
cases, could not provide adequate representation. Rich people also murder but
how many do you think are convicted and sentenced to death?
The more I
found out about capital punishment the more I knew I had to oppose it. We have
executed Innocent people in our country. We have executed mentally retarded
people. We have executed the mentally insane, and we have executed children.
This is reprehensible behavior for a nation that claims to be civilized and
preaches so much morality. It is also Inexcusable spiritually for a country
that claims to be so Christian. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought God
clearly
stated, "Thou
Shalt Not Kill."
If we can be
honest in our minds and hearts we can clearly say that the death penalty, by Its very nature, Is arbitrary, discriminatory and racist. Oh
yes, capital punishment is very much about racism. The most complete and
sophisticated analysis of race as a factor In murder cases shows that someone
who kills a white person is 11 times more likely to receive the death sentence
than someone who kills a black person. Another abhorrent statistic indicates
that a black person who kills a white person is 22 times more likely to be
sentenced to death. These figures are outrageous for a country that prides
itself on Justice.
The Reverend
Joseph Ingle, a Christian minister who has counseled Death Row prisoners in the
American South for almost 30 years and who has been nominated twice by the country
of Sweden for the Nobel Peace Prize, states, "The most difficult thing for
white people in this country to talk about when we talk about state-sanctioned
killing is the matter of race. It is all about race. No matter what anyone may
say about vengeance or deterrence, it is a matter of social control. That Is what we're talking about here, and let's be clear about
this."
By no means
do I profess to fully understand the complexities of violence and murder In
America, but I do know that the death penalty is not a deterrent. States that
kill Death Row prisoners show no decrease in their murder rates. Capital
punishment also has nothing to do with fighting violent crime. The need for It is stressed in propaganda campaigns by politicians who
hope to get elected and re-elected, Instilling fear in an unsuspecting and
uninformed public by beating their venom-filled drums of lies and rhetoric. I
also realize that we need to take a long hard look at overhauling the prison
system. We are incarcerating and incapacitating people at an unprecedented
rate, the majority of whom are convicted for nonviolent offenses.
And lastly,
we need to question some of our hysterical drug laws that deal mostly with the
symptoms of crime and substance abuse. Our emphasis needs to be placed more on
rehabilitation rather than enforcement.
My final
thoughts can be best stated by The Reverend Fred Taylor; a Southern Baptist
Minister who has attempted to carry on Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy of
nonviolence through his civil right's leadership and his work to abolish the
death penalty. When asked about priorities for our country in the future. Dr.
Taylor states, "We must emphatically affirm, when talking about the
economy, that it is more cost effective for the U.S. to educate its youth,
house its homeless, provide medical care to Its ill, feed its hungry, clothe
its naked, offer hope to the despairing, offer art, culture and religion to the
minds, hearts and souls of all its people, than to expend time, money and
energy on the dead-end road, the senseless road, the inhumane road of the death
penalty.” Amen.
They said to him, “Teacher, this woman
was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law "Moses commanded us to stone such women..
Now what do you say?” He said to them,
"Let anyone among you who is without sin
Be the first to throw a stone at her."
-John8.4-5&7