Thoughts in Transition...

So What Does Tookie Leave Behind?

It is an odd anomaly that a state that has as “liberal” by reputation as California does activity employs the death penalty. Tookie Williams’ execution brought that dichotomy to the forefront of California minds again. I’m not familiar enough with the case to argue his guilt or innocence. While there is a good case to be made against him, the DA made a big mess of it. The question that people were thinking about the most was “is the death penalty justice?”

Don’t get me wrong, I do support the death penalty in highly restricted uses such as serial murders. I do not think the guy driving the car at the hold-up gone bad deserves to die, but people who are obviously beyond the capability of rehabilitation, such as serial killers, are simply a drain on society. Either they are a drain on it physically when they are free or they are a drain on it economically when they are incarcerated. So for me it’s matter of cold dollars and sense. There was no point in keeping Jeffery Dahmer alive and the guy who beat him to death saved the state of Wisconsin a million dollars or so. But that is not justice, that’s economics.

Justice is defined as “the quality of being just or fair.” In that sense by all means execution of murders is justice in the “eye for and eye” world view. And while my family has been fortunate enough, thank the Gods, to have been spared from violent crime, I can certainly understand where a family who has lost would feel some peace and some closure upon seeing the death of the person that took their loved one from them.

But “justice” has other meanings. In the Catholic church, justice along with prudence, temperance and fortitude, is one of the four cardinal virtues upon which the world and/or all moral virtue is balanced. In that sense “Justice” is defined as “Our constant and permanent determination to give everyone his or her rightful due.”

Their rightful due…

What is that? How do we determine that? Through a court of law we determine someone’ guilt or innocence, but how do we determine one’s rightful due if they are guilty? Ignoring the vast disparity in punishments between white collar crime and steel crimes, what is a rightful due? Dictionary defines it as “rightful” as “just” and “due” as “debt”. But is that what they are getting? Combined with prudence and temperance, does execution sound like a virtue in action to you? I mean yeah, society may give them a rightful due now after they have committed the crime, but did they get a rightful due when they were bounced around a vastly over-crowed and under-funded foster care system or when the government cut public school funding? Were we giving them “just due” when we created a country that required both their parents to work in most economic classes in order to support the family” Were we being fair when our media taught young people to be grossly materialistic without giving them a proper sense of right and wrong, a work ethic or the environment that would foster their advancement? We do not give them just due then, why should we take delicious pleasure in granting them “just due” now?

I’m not saying that a bad upbringing excuses any criminal from their personal responsibility, plenty of people have had crappy childhoods and come out productive members of society, but when we are thinking about how to approach the problem of crime the fact is capital punishment coupled the incredibly overcrowded prison system are not merely problems that must be dealt with. They are failing band-aids over a gaping gunshot wounds in our society. If we want to stop executions, we shouldn’t be picketing at the prisons. We should be picketing at the damn legislature to come up with a viable social plan that will help our young people steer clear of such a path. We should picket ourselves for not prioritizing spending the time with our young people to teach them right, wrong and personal responsibility.

I don’t have all the answers, I wish I did. But with the way the system works with it’s long delays, I think it time to stop attacking a single issue in the prison system and start asking why are we making so many criminals? Maybe we should try giving each other our rightful due, our justice, before we break the law.

In The Meantime...

I have a reservation. My dog has a reservation. My cats have a reservation. My stuff has a reservation and my car has a reservation. I won’t be really able to get excited about this move until all the work is done and things are truly set in motion…but I’m getting there. :)