According to the AP, “the state of Missouri” is ready to start killing prisoners again (Post Dispatch May 27 metro section.) In OUR name, the Dept of Corrections (now THERE’s a misnomer) is ready to set the date for the execution of 14 people deemed to be unfit to live. And this in our “Christian/Pro-Life” state of Missouri.
Mizzou professor Michael Lenza has published “The Prevailing Injustice of the Application of the Death Penalty in Missouri (1978-1996) which includes data showing how arbitrary, capricious and racist the death penalty is in Missouri. Over 90% of the people accused in a capital offense can’t afford an attorney. The public defenders’ offices are overwhelmed. A black convicted of killing a white is 5 times more likely to receive the death penalty than a black convicted of killing another black.
Over 200 organizations have adopted the call for a moratorium on executions until a complete study can be done. Check these out at http://www.moabolition.org
Put yourself in the place of an innocent person being led to the death chamber or the family member of someone you know is innocent. Are we living in the Middle Ages or what?
When I was still teaching high school English, a case came before SCOTUS in which the plaintiffs argued that the death penalty should be barred because of the obvious racism in sentencing. (This would have been, I don’t know, twenty years ago?) I made my students aware of the controversy. I was appalled when the Court, in essence, shrugged off the racist reality. The justices might as well have said, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Let’s not get all sentimental about a few black men who might have gotten a raw deal.”