No, no they won’t but the world will be rid of another unrepentant killer who is taking up precious resources that could be used for someone more deserving.
So he developed a pastime while incarcerated. Many inmates serving long sentences do.
If we grant clemency to Tookie, then they’ll magically return to life??!
I am philosophically against the death penalty, for several reasons. It is not applied
equally to all economic and social classes. It is ultimately irrevocable in the event an
error in judgment is made. It is an act of vengeance, rather than an act of discipline.
Deny freedom is, to me, a worse punishment than death. There may be a few hours
,or moments, of terror for the condemned, but I think this pales in the face of being
cadged up for the rest of your life.
Having said that, the existing law in CA. allows for the death penalty and to select this
man for commutation, from all the others on death row, based on “good works” is
not consistent w/ the law. The governor has sworn to uphold the existing laws and
that’s what he’s done.
Oh, thanks. I’d forgotten. Y’know, I’m against the death penalty because it’s a poor deterrant, it devalues human life, it ignores the racial and economic inequities in the system, it makes killers out of all of us, and it’s illogical. But when it’s applied against killers then of course all that’s thrown out the window.
–Cliffy
Williams must not have thought much of his victims either or they would be alive today.
A governor shouldn’t step in and inject personal opinion or bias. His job is to be sure that those who did the prosecuting and those who will carry out the sentence have everything straight and everything is in order. A governer’s clemency more importantly rely’s on the condemned’s lawyers than their PR firm.
I’ve heard anywhere from 65-70% of Californians are in favor of the death penalty. If the Governator loses, it won’t be because of this.
May I add my vote to the “Boo-Frelling-Hoo” side?
That piece of slime should be killed slowly, and then his harvestable body parts used to heal some worthwhile people.
He should have died 20 years ago.
I know. And after electing a celebrity to be our governor has worked out so incredibly well for us :rolleyes:
Countries that engage in the death penalty -
1 Kuwait
2 China
3 Iran
4 Singapore
5 **Saudi Arabia **
6 Vietnam
7 Belarus
8 Yemen
9 United States
10 Pakistan
11 Egypt
12 Bangladesh
We’re among good friends, it seems. USA, pride of western civilization.
What you said.
You know, in 1776 there was another short list we were on, that being countries that have representative governments.
We cannot base our laws or our national conscience on the actions of the rest of the world. Both human beings and human societies must make moral and legal decisions for themselves, simply following the example set by others is neither appropriate or right.
Yep, lousy ol’ Singapore. Crappy ol’ #25 in the UN Human Development Index, Singapore. Uncivilized, barbaric hellhole, compared to neighbors like Indonesia and Malaysia.
Hey! Why didn’t Egypt get bolded? They practically INVENTED the civilization they’re disgracing! 
(And ya left out Taiwan, Japan, South Korea…bunch of worthless podunks, if you ask me.)
So why do celebs get behind the “rights” of these poor Tookie and others like him? When have we ever seen a swelling of opinion to definitely send someone out on the death penalty?
I’ve never even heard of the man til recently. I don’t assume all prosecuters and officers are lying to get convictions.
And yet, in places like Venezuela (which doesn’t have the death penalty) prison conditions are so harsh that as a form of protest prisoners have sown their lips shut.
IIRC, Japanese prisons are no picnic either. Most prisons are nasty ugly places, not simply because of the individuals they contain, but because of the way they are treated. Frankly, if I was innocent, I’d rather be put to death, than have to spend the rest of my life confined to a small box for decades. YMMV.
Well more than likely Stanley Williams is dead or at the point of no return at this point.
Well, a lot of people on death row don’t feel that way because they fight pretty hard to avoid execution.
But remember in the United States death row is typically nicer than general population. You typically have a cell to yourself.
Of course some prisoners don’t seem to mind general population too much. Lots of prisoners basically lived hellish lives on the outside, the only difference prison life offers to them is it’s a very structure, more confined, hellish life. A lot of prisoners continue membership in the gang they were in on the outside, and a lot of them basically continue with their recreational habits they engaged in on the outside.
The “BREAKING NEWS” ticker on CNN.com just reported that he has been executed.
I’ll avoid any potshots or snide remarks for the time being.
I never understood what these lists are trying to prove. How is the death penalty in the Yemen in any way similar to the death penalty in the United States?
As others have mentioned, he’s avoided making contributions he’s capable of that would actually matter, like helping the legal community to disassemble the gang structure by providing relevant, needed information. Instead, his “works” appear to be little more than fluffy window dressing, pretty, but of little real substance or benefit. The corrections community has some real reservations about whether he’s at all sincere and, personally, I find this celebrity bandwagon movement nauseating. There’s pleanty of reasons to reform the death penalty but this guy is about the worst choice of posterchild imaginable.
The Prosecution Response posted in GD leads me to believe absolutely in his guilt and these were brutal crimes, callously executing passive people to remove them as witnesses. I’ve already mentioned his mockery of their last moments.
He threatened the jury in his case, even concocting an escape that would’ve included killing a number of other prisoners to create confusion, killing even those that were to help in his escape. He still maintains racism is why he’s in jail and refuses to apologise to his victims families. And this is okay because he wrote some books?
Instead of large crowds gathering at the prison to lament the passing of a cold blooded murderer, why can’t their vigil be instead at the grave sites of Tookie’s victims? Society benefitted much more from their presence and yet, apparently, no one was there for them last night. It strikes me that the focus on right to life is horribly misdirected.