Posted on 12/15/2005 5:11:45 PM PST by genefromjersey
What Should Society Do With Its “Tookie Monsters” ?
The “ Tookie Williams Saga “ has finally ended.
After decades of appeals and delays , and more appeals and more delays; after vast agitation by a wide variety of people : ranging from sincere opponents of the death penalty, to shameless self-advocates looking for more media “face time”, Tookie Williams – the convicted murderer of four people finally got the justice a jury of his peers had decreed.
There are many who say the death penalty is “barbaric” ; or that it serves no useful purpose.
I tend to agree – when the penalty is exacted 20 years after the crime.
Justice delayed is – all things considered – justice denied ; and thus, serves no useful purpose.
I find myself nodding in agreement with the proposal by an Ocean County ,NJ official ; who says-with considerable accuracy- New Jersey should abandon the death penalty ,because decades of experience have shown the NJ Supreme Court simply will not permit a death sentence to be carried out : no matter how hideous the crime.
The official points out the insanity of a financially-stressed state paying out millions and millions of dollars in death sentence appeal costs , when it is obvious what the outcome will be.
I think most people would agree with this pragmatic assessment – though I am sure there are some cynics who would say we need a death penalty - in case a NJ Supreme Court Justice is ever murdered.
(Anyone care to bet on the outcome of THAT appeal ?)
So, without a death penalty , what DO we do with our “Tookie Monsters”?
I use the term “monsters” advisedly. By the time a homicide case has passed through the court system , the “lesser” homicides have been dealt with. Commonly, these lesser cases do not involve the monsters who plan and premeditate murder,and who are as willing to kill to secure their goals as we are to sip a beverage or scratch or yawn.
I’ve met a lot of them ,and can say ,when you see one of them do or say something which seems to have redeeming qualities –like Tookie Williams and his “famous” (303 copies sold) anti-gang books – it is done for one reason only: to secure a temporary advantage for the criminal.
Every SERIOUS criminal I’ve ever met is lacking in what we might call “moral vitamins” , or “conscience” , or genuine empathy towards for his fellow humans. “Right” is what helps him; “Wrong” is what hinders or delays his satisfaction. If we were to express it in wilderness terms, career criminals are predators,and we are their chosen prey.
Unfortunately, there is a small-but-influential segment of our society that has never been able to grasp this simple truth – even when it springs up like a stepped-on rake to hit them in the teeth.
Their first thought (Lord help us !) seems to be : “ What did WE do wrong ? Was there some sort of program which could have prevented this ? How much will it cost ?”
This small segment of our society also thinks the obvious answer as to what to do about “Tookie Monsters” is just …wrong-headed.
“We can’t lock people up without hope of release !”, they shout. “ It’s –it’s – just WRONG !”
Did I mention the fact this small segment of influential people gets to sit on parole boards,or judicial and legislative committeees that govern our parole policies ? That they are people nobody elected ? That some see it as their function to achieve ethnic or racial quotas in granting parole ? That some believe it is their plain duty to frustrate the will of the electorate ?
If we’re not going to execute monsters who would kill us in a heartbeat, let’s at least make sure they are locked up - as securely as human ingenuity will permit – for the rest of their natural lives: no parole, no release on “intensive supervision”, no “max –outs”.
Tookie Monsters need to be in the jar-with the lid on securely !
That's what counts to me.
How's Life with no parole AND a pre-frontal lobotomy
Dunp them in Antarctica. "Vole on Ice".
I agree. The clamor for the death penalty is the result of liberals letting them out. Gerald Turner here in Wisconsin is my favorite example of that. He raped and murdered Lisa French in the '70s, and the liberals were set to let him out in the '90s. We passed a law, and he's back behind bars, abut the liberals predictably, are up in arms about the law we passed. Screw 'em!
but
OK, so it took 25 years to snuff Tookie.
Look on the bright side: Tookie got a twofer. A DEATH SENTENCE AND a LIFE SENTENCE.
Doesn't get much better than that, unless you want to dig him up and do it all over again.
The next guy scheduled for execution in CA was serving LWOP for murder. He arranged two more murders from his jail cell. After two more innocent people died because this animal hadn't been executed for his first murder, he finally got the death penalty. Now we are hearing sob stories about how he is 75 and in poor health. If they had executed him promptly for the first murder he did, he wouldn't BE 75.
So long as there are parole boards and no effective capital P then it is probably better that we have these long drawn out appeals. The appeals seem to effectively keep the monster locked up while they continue. It is expensive but it prevents further murders outside of prison by the monster.
I is for injection, that's good enough for me...
Dip them in milk and bite their heads off?
I've long advocated dumping child rapists, murderers and other repeat violent felons on one of the barren rocks in the Aleutians with a knife and a blanket. They will either kill one another off, or learn to help one another survive. Nature ("mother" nature and their own nature) will give them what they deserve.
I'd be perfectly willing to drop the death penalty if their punishment was that sort of banishment.
We had a state supreme court like that once, and we threw off the worst offenders (the chief justice and two of the associates). Reconfirmation by popular vote, it's a wonderful thing.
NJ judges are "non-political" (appointed on nasis of of party loyalty).
Tookie didn't call me today.
Doesn't get much better than that, unless you want to dig him up and do it all over again.
Can we DO that?
Sounds like a plan.
Keep his brain in a jar and every so often cut the power.
How DID we get from "hang 'em at sunrise" to this?
Hand of Doom
What you gonna do
Time's caught up with you
Now you wait your turn
You know there's no return
Change your empty rules
You join the other fools
Turn to something new
Now it's killing you
First it was the bomb, Vietnam napalm
Disillusioning, you push the needle in
From life you escape, reality's black drape
Colours in your mind satisfy your time
Oh you, you know you must be blind
To do something like this
To take the sweet that you don't know
You're giving Death a kiss
Poor little fool now
Your mind is full of pleasure
Your body's looking ill
To you it's shallow leisure
So drop the acid pill
Don't stop to think now
You're having a good time baby
But that won't last
Your mind's all full of things
You're living too fast
Go out, enjoy yourself
Don't bottle it in
You need someone to help you
Stick the needle in, yeah
Now you know the scene
Your skin starts turning green
Your eyes no longer seeing life's reality
Push the needle in
Face death's sickly grin
Holes are in your skin
Caused by deadly pin
Head starts spinning 'round
You fall down to the ground
Feel your body heave
Death hand starts to weave
It's too late to turn
You don't want to learn
Price of life is high
Now you're gonna die
Actually, I like the guillotine. The French had something there for once. Swift, painless but scary and hugely entertaining.
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