Killing Tookie Williams
For those who haven't been paying attention to this little drama, Tookie Williams was the founder of the Crips gang in 1971 (as in Crips vs. Bloods). He's been in prison for murder for a while and is sentenced to die on the 13th. While in prison, Williams wrote a series of children's books on staying out of gangs and initiated gang truces in a few cities. Williams continues to claim his innocence, and apparently Ahnuld is using that as part of the reason for refusing clemency. Having not reviewed evidence one way or the other, I'm going to set aside the claims of guilty or innocent and stick with one thought.
How does it serve the public to kill a man who is now working to keep kids out of gangs? If prison is about rehabilitation, do we kill once rehabilitated? Or do we say, ok, life in prison is it. In return for the good you're doing and will hopefully continue to do, we won't kill you?
A police spokesman says that there is no evidence Williams is still involved in the gangs, stating that "his name doesn't come up."
Should Tookie get a reprieve to life in prison?
How does it serve the public to kill a man who is now working to keep kids out of gangs? If prison is about rehabilitation, do we kill once rehabilitated? Or do we say, ok, life in prison is it. In return for the good you're doing and will hopefully continue to do, we won't kill you?
A police spokesman says that there is no evidence Williams is still involved in the gangs, stating that "his name doesn't come up."
Should Tookie get a reprieve to life in prison?
posted by Anonymous at 6:06 PM
1 Comments:
i agree. i read the post's gene robinson yesterday, who said that a lot of people have redeemed themselves in prison who never acquired celebrity backers, and they were executed. therefore it isn't fair that tookie williams be spared that fate, either. that's pretty harsh, though...anyone who has turned his life around so completely deserves a second chance, celebs or no celebs. i think eugene r. needs to revisit that opinion. then again, i'm one of those people who hates freedom, coddles criminals and forces liberalism non-stop on unsuspecting undergraduate students, so this should be taken with several large grains of salt.
Post a Comment
<< Home