I did not want to have to write about the injustice of the death penalty again so soon, but here goes…Stanley Tookie Williams III is a criminal. This fact no one denies, not even Tookie. Tookie was a co-founder of the Crips, in which role he helped to create the gang culture in Los Angeles and contributed to a horrible cycle of violent crime.
Tookie was convicted of 4 murders in 1981. Tookie, while admitting to many other crimes, denies guilt in those killings. Tookie may or may not be innocent of those particular acts, but perhaps that is not so important in the bigger picture because of his admitted guilt for committing other crimes.
Tookie has been imprisoned in San Quentin for the last 24 years. He has been on 100% good behaviour for the last 12 years, and it would appear that he has rehabilitated himself. Tookie’s voice is now one of the loudest in speaking out against gang violence; he has written children’s books which advocate non-violence and alternatives to gang culture. Tookie has apologised for the part he played in creating the Crips. In 2004 Tookie helped negotiate the Tookie Protocol for Peace, a treaty between the Crips and the Bloods which has helped to reduce violence in both California and Newark, New Jersey.
In 2002, a 3-judge panel on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Tookie’s conviction, but then suggested to Governor Gray Davis that he consider commuting Tookie’s death sentence - an unusual thing for judges to do. The judges praised Tookie for his “laudable efforts opposing gang violence” and his “good works and accomplishments since incarceration”.
Tookie has, in fact, become an effective social worker because he has real street credibility and the respect of gang members. Tookie has done a lot of good work over the past 12 years and it is very likely that, if allowed to live, he will continue to do so. Yes, Tookie is a criminal, but no one is advocating his release from prison, only that his sentence be commuted from death to life.
Tookie is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection on Tuesday, 13 December at 12.01 a.m. unless Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger grants clemency, which he has thus far withheld. It will be a horrible waste of the life of a person who has been helping to fix the world.
6 comments:
What was his record in prison his firt 12 yrs?
Well, SS, since you asked - Tookie spent 6 1/2 of those years in solitary confinement as punishment for repeated assaults on other inmates and prison guards. But a man does not turn his life around overnight so cut him some slack. Tookie has not done anything wrong since 1993.
Riggs, I thought you might say something about the 9th circuit. What the bottom line really is is that Tookie is worth more to society alive than dead, but we are going to kill him anyway. It's a self-defeating gesture.
What is Tookie worth to society? Arent these gangs still around killing innocent people? Now if Tookie could end the gang environment that he started I would agree but it has spread out of LA all over the country.
Asshole, I can argue with a lot of what you have written (e.g. the convenience store clerk was 26, not 17), but I don't really see the point. We all agree that Tookie is guilty of crimes.
However I will argue with what you said about Tookie's execution serving a purpose, because the death penalty does not deter murderers. If it did, our prisons would not be so full.
And I am afraid you are probably right about the ensuing riots. Nice.
SS, Tookie is worth something to society because it is the work he is doing right now that enables him to give something back. While nothing he gives back to society can make up for the havoc he has wreaked, it is a hell of a lot more than he could do dead.
The Holy Spirit's message on The Christian Prophet blog today says that as long as Tookie lives on earth he pays the price for his mistakes, but when no longer living on earth he is totally forgiven and free.
Riggs, the Protocol for Peace, for one thing. It has not eliminated gangs, but it has been credited with reducing the level of gang violence. Any bit of good that Tookie can do, any kind of positive influence that he can have - these are the reasons to let him live.
Mr Christian Prophet: Whatever you think, love, is fine with me.
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