Tomorrow Gov. Schwartzenneger is going to decide the fate of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams - whether he will die at midnight or serve a life sentence. I recently read a great article about the meaning of 'clemency', and truly hope his sentence is commuted.
Of course, I'm totally and completely against the death penalty, so even though I feel he deserves clemency, even if I didn't feel this way I'd want his sentence commuted. Did you, dear reader, know, that since 1976, 120 death row inmates have been exonerated? And that doesn't count the number of inmates proved innocent after their exocution took place. They are never officially exonerated. Incredible, isn't it?
Here's another good article about Tookie and the death penalty. If only all of our governors would commute sentences as Gov. Ryan did in Illinois.
And anyway, think of what will happen if Tookie is killed. Riots everywhere. There are a lot of Crips in St. Louis, in fact. Supposedly they are going to put all federal prisons on lockdown during the announcement of Gov. Schwartzenner's decision.
Bottom line, I think the death penalty should be abolished all together. I'm not willing to okay the death of a few innocent people in order to kill those who are guilty. Not even losing one innocent person is acceptable, and hell, we've already done that. Forget about whether you are a democrat, or a republican, or a whatever - it's wrong. The US actually spends more money to execute an inmate than to keep them in prison for life.
I'll have my fingers crossed tomorrow.
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