Confusion

I'm not one to post about politics, so I don't mean for this to be all political, but I woke up this morning feeling sad.

Most of you have probably heard about Tookie Williams, one of the founders of the Crips gang. He was put to death by lethal injection at 12:01 AM PST. Williams admitted he did some bad things, but he always maintained his innocence in regards to the murders on which he was convicted. He was never a snitch. He was a mild mannered man who had been in jail since 1981, and had since become an anti-gang activist.

I am actually in favor of the principle of the death penalty for murderers, rapists and child molesters, but I don't believe it is just to put someone to death 24 years after a conviction. It's the same situation as Karla Faye Tucker, the woman who was put to death by lethal injection in 1998 after being in jail for many years. Even the victims' families pleaded for her life to be spared, as she had repented and completely changed. In her case, she admitted her guilt. Why in the world did she sit in jail for years and years? It seems so obvious to me that justice would have been giving her a lethal injection shortly after her conviction. It doesn't seem just that she repented and had to just sit in jail for years and years. She was no longer the same person.

So while I do believe that those who murder others deserve the death penalty, our judicial system makes them sit in jail for years and years, giving them time to become completely different people. I can't find the justice in putting someone to death 20+ years after they have committed a crime. It's not even the same person by that point.

Truthfully, I don't know exactly what to think. I believe that justice delayed is justice denied. I believe it was disturbing that Tookie's death was put on display. People actually watched this man die. It was like he was a spectacle.

I don't know. All I know is that I woke up this morning thinking that a man who maintained his innocence for over 20 years was killed. I don't know all the facts, but I felt sad. Death is so final. I also feel great sadness for the victim's families. Regardless, they grieve their losses. The whole thing is just awful for everyone.

Maybe I was affected by "The Green Mile," where the innocent man was killed. Maybe I can't help but remember that there have been people that were been given the death penalty- and after DNA evidence was introduced, it was found they were innocent. Maybe I am jaded because I watched "The Life of David Gale." But I am still torn. If someone were killed in my family, I would want the ultimate punishment.

I don't know what to think.

I guess at this point, it's all left up to God.