The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Barbarism, American Style

    By Dennie Briggs on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 1:28pm |

     

    crossposted at www.denniebriggs.com/wp/

    The New Year will see California all set for an execution. Nothing new, even though five federal court judges argue that Kevin Cooper was framed by the police. Aside from guilt or innocence, the verdict again raises the issue of the death penalty.

    “An important reason Americans retain capital punishment is their fascination with death. Great works of literature, like best-selling paperbacks, attract readers by discussing killings and revenge. . . the popularity of the mystery story is part of the culture that keeps capital punishment alive.” 

    Disparaging remarks coming from former Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens, in an essay review of David Garland’s book, Peculiar Institution. America’s Death Penalty in an age of Abolition. “An execution may provide revenge and therapeutic benefits” for the survivors, the Justice points out, “But important as that may be, it cannot alone justify death sentences. We do not, after all, execute drunken drivers who cause fatal accidents.”

    So why then, after so many other countries have abolished the death penalty, do Americans hang on to it? Perhaps we can learn from looking at the shifting views of the former Justice himself. Adam Liptak, writing in the NYTimes, reminds us that, “In 1976, just six months after he joined the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens voted to reinstate capital punishment after a four-year moratorium.” And then in 2008, as he announced his retirement, after three decades on the Court, and 1,100 executions, Justice Stevens changed his positon:

    “. . . the imposition of the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes. A penalty with such negligible returns to the State [is] patently excessive and cruel and unusual punishment violative of the Eighth Amendment.” 

    Justice Stevens quotes David Garland to draw our attention to how penal intentions have switched to political interests: 

    “Support for death penalty laws allows politicians to show that they support law enforcement. . .  California Senator Barbara Boxer bragged that she voted 100 times for the death penalty. And George W. Bush first ran for president in a year when, as governor of Texas, he had presided over the largest number of state executions ever carried out in a single twelve-month period—a total of forty in the year 2000.”

    Justice Stevens additionally argued against the use of lethal injections which was overturned by the Court. A NY Times editorial concluded, “Since then, evidence has continued to mount, showing the huge injustice of the death penalty—and the particular barbarism of this form of execution.”

    Although the ethical issue of capital punishment remains, by commuting Kevin Cooper’s sentence, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could at least gain a modicum of humanity.

     

     

    Comments

    “Support for death penalty laws allows politicians to show that they support law enforcement. . .  California Senator Barbara Boxer bragged that she voted 100 times for the death penalty. And George W. Bush first ran for president in a year when, as governor of Texas, he had presided over the largest number of state executions ever carried out in a single twelve-month period—a total of forty in the year 2000.”

    There are a number of variables involved in the fact that so many in this country embrace the death penalty, but a major one is that for decades and decades it has been a political wedge which has resulted in the continued dehumanizing of "criminals."  This has been coupled with a loss in faith in the criminal justice system which (thanks to bleeding-heart liberals) either won't put in them in prison or if it does will soon release them so they can continue their terrorizing of law-abiding citizens.  The Eastwood Dirty Harry and Bronson's Death Wish movies reflected a growing sentiment in the public regarding both the beast nature of the criminal and inepitude of the justice system.  The grand culmination in this was the Willie Horton ads.

    For many the death penalty, putting aside notions of justice, is seen as the only way to protect the citizens from unredeemable killers.


    by Elusive Trope on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 3:10pm

    There are a number of variables involved in the fact that so many in this country embrace the death penalty, but a major one is that for decades and decades it has been a political wedge which has resulted in the continued dehumanizing of "criminals."

    Unless of course those criminals are high ranking republican officials.


    by cmaukonen on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 3:30pm

    The Eastwood Dirty Harry and Bronson's Death Wish movies reflected a growing sentiment in the public regarding both the beast nature of the criminal and inepitude of the justice system.

     

    I would add that movies and TV shows of that nature not only reflected public opinion but also were strong influences in forming public opinion regarding the death penalty, just like "Twenty-Four" was influential in getting large segments of our population to accept torture as necessary, justified, and affective.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 5:03pm

    Agreed.  It all makes me think of Ronald Reagan quoting Dirty Harry: "I have my veto pen drawn and ready for any tax increase that Congress might even think of sending up. And I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers. Go ahead--make my day."  A catch phrase he would use numerous times around tax increases.


    by Elusive Trope on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 6:22pm

    Great blog, DB. This is an issue I feel most passionately about, despite finding myself so completely in the minority in terms of popular opinion.

    Simply put, there is absolutely no metric that can be called upon to support this barbaric practice. Ultimately, it comes down to blood lust fed with a purposeful avoidance of any real grasp of the issues at play.

    Indefensible. Barbaric. And even criminal when it is considered that "the state" (meaning "You and Me") has been shown to be guilty of the aggravated and premeditated murder of people who were subsequently found to be innocent of the crimes for which they were "punished." I ask, who sits in the Executioners chair for THAT hideous crime, eh?


    by SleepinJeezus on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 3:29pm

    Great post SleepinJeezua.

    The death penalty is not only barbaric, but it is also brutal, cruel, degrading, inhuman and uncivilized act of state-sanctioned violence. It is all about politics, votes and pure vengeance.

    As for the he execution-team (prison guards) who claim to be 'just doing their job', only crazed sadists are able to perform this abhorrent, disgusting and vile act of barbarism and still sleep peacefully at night.
         
    United Nations Death Penalty List.

    United States of America, Afghanistan, Algeria, Antigua, Barbuda, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Central African Republic, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, North Korea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tonga, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

    What more can be said ... really ???

     


    by ACADP - Australia (not verified) on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 8:36pm

    Right up there with the best of the best, aren't we.


    by cmaukonen on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 8:45pm

    Yes it's a sorry picture. That said, our public opinion that puts us on that list could be worse.

    I was aghast at reading the following, and still find it hard to believe:

     

    From Pew Global Attitudes Project, Released: December 2, 2010,

    Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah; Most Embrace a Role for Islam in Politics


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 2:47pm

    You know some have suggested it is not what you say but how you say it.

    It matters less what you do than how you do it. At least sometimes.

    It is not that we execute people that bothers me. Someone who rapes and kills a child should be executed in short order.

    When I was a kid my best friend's dad ran a little butcher shop. A guy came in with a gun and shot him dead. Right in the middle of suburbia. We had no death penalty here, but it would not have bothered me if someone killed the prick.

    The problem is how this penalty is dealt out. Our Supreme Court, especially over the last twenty years has decided to stay away from the Equal Protection Clause unless they find it convenient to use in order to elect a repub President.

    But hundreds are executed in Texas and some other states and just a few in other states.

    And minorities are more likely to be executed, by far.

    So what kind of country allows this random selection based on race and geography?

    I am against the death penalty because of the way it is enforced.

    Leopold and Loeb had Clarence Darrow to deliver their final argument.

    How many people sitting on death row had a Darrow to argue their case.

    Great post!!!


    by Richard Day on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 3:46pm

    ... or even a Day?

    How sure can you be that the guilty are really guilty?


    by Donal on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 4:35pm

    I don't have to get into the argument. I think this is Justice Steven's argument actually.

    I could get into video tapes and finger prints (which are not that accurate anyway) and DNA (which may not be that dispositive anyway) and eye witness testimony (which might be purchased with money or diminished sentencing) and all sorts of other evidentiary problems.

    The fact is that there is no EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW with respect to the death penalty. There is no Equal Protection anyway, but we should be more particular when we decide to kill someone as a society.


    by Richard Day on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 4:41pm

    Thank you, Richard Day for your thoughtful reply.

    I don’t personally believe in the death penalty for any offense. But I do believe that some offenders must be incarcerated for life, until we know more about the effects of the environment and what made them into what they became. Nor do I believe that prisons should become warehouses for stockpiling offenders. We speak of the offender as owing a debt to society and paying for it by his—or her—loss of freedom. How could one’s life in prison contribute to the betterment of us all?

    Every prison could become a field laboratory where prisoners could pay that societal debt by assisting social scientists to study the many facets of crime. Prisons are microcosms of societies (although some are as large as small cities), characturing life in its rawness—over population, drug addiction, unemployment, bigotry, gangs, racketering, violence; yes, and even a hit-and-miss modicum of kindness—inflicted unintentionally. Every offender was once a child—what went wrong? Criminal justice programs lack opportunities for their students to learn first hand from offenders. Students in law, criminal justice, psychiatry, psychology, education, sociology, counseling, and so on, could do “internships” much as those do in medicine, learning alongside their professors, in “teaching prisons.” 


    by Dennie Briggs on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 12:04pm

    We need to get this discussion going. And I am so glad you posted this.

    About every two months I go on a rant about our prison system, our judicial system of incarceration and private prisons. We need more of a discussion concerning this matter.

    Three million of our brothers and sisters are sitting in stir right now participating in chain gangs or just thrown into dungeons that would remind one of those Turkish prisons.

    Well done.


    by Richard Day on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 3:59pm

    Here in Britain we have stopped being barbaric and senseless at least by not having Capital Punishment.

    It was abolished for murder in 1969. Although never applied, it remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998. The last executions took place in 1964, by hanging.
    Dennie mentions the cases where people who are not guilty have paid the ultimate price.

    One of the Murders by the State here on our behalf was of Timothy Evans who was hanged for the murder of his wife and child at the hands of another man called Christie
    The story was told fully by Ewan McColl who wrote “Go down you murderes go down” sung here by Paddy Reilly.
    I was going to print the words but the song more eloquently makes the point. Please listen to it.
    More information here


    by Ian Milne on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 2:42pm

    Of course the U.K. beat us in abolishing slavery by about thirty years.

    And we pretend we have Miranda because of our Constitution and the U.K. also has Miranda warnings.

    I did some research and discovered that the U.K. has writings that have become constitutional in effect. We pretend somehow that we invented Human Rights over here and the Right Wing over here thinks we made it all up anyway.


    by Richard Day on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 5:00pm

    Mr. Day, Ah'm from the Sooner state and I'll tell ya'll liberal asshats we got us a new law here thet don't allow no foreign based laws, just Amurican laws. England aint even got a written constitution, how they gonna tell us what to do. And we don want no Shurea law neither.


    by Oxy Mora on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 5:23pm

    Oxy, what the hell are you doing back already? I thought you were off stimulatin' the economy for us, with your fancy 'dentistry' and 'trucks' and shit...? The Dow is only up 0.15% or something, W.T.F?!?!

    Dude, get busy! Get yourself some gangsta bling on those pearly whites of yours. Get some accessories - those gold hubcaps that spin, or whatever. Seriously don't you love your country...?


    by Obey on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 5:47pm

    Obey, damn, after the dentist--need a couple of implants--gonna have to wait till next year for the gold hubcaps. Shit, why are we talking SS and medicare, what we need is a senior dental plan. Is it too late to amend the package?


    by Oxy Mora on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 10:35pm

    Huh? Oh yeah, I forgot, Sooners weren't a state until 1907, don't know nothin' bout no history, them founding fathers could just as well be furriners for the most part....Laughing

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta#America

    http://73827809.nhd.weebly.com/the-american-constititution-and-declarati...


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 6:44pm