Posted on 11/24/2005 6:29:21 PM PST by SmithL
Sacramento -- A bevy of Nobel laureates and celebrities have written a letter urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence of Stanley Tookie Williams, himself a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Williams, 51, the co-founder of the Crips gang convicted of four 1979 murders, is scheduled to be executed at San Quentin State Prison on Dec. 13.
The letter praises Williams' work as an anti-gang crusader, including writing children's books.
"Each year at the holiday season voices the world over cry out for peace," states the letter to the governor. "This year, one of them, a voice of great power, will be lost unless you act."
Among the signatories of the letter are Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Irene Kahn, secretary general of Amnesty International; and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who founded the Community of the Peace People in 1976.
Among the celebrities who signed the letter are Jason Alexander, Jackson Browne, Russell Crowe, Carl Reiner and Susan Sarandon.
Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, with the Human Rights Center of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, also signed the letter. She is a cousin of Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver.
On Monday, civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Bianca Jagger visited Williams at San Quentin. His case has become a cause for many activists.
"Through his work, gang truces have been mediated, and long-standing wounds have been healed," the letter states. "Lives have been saved."
Williams has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize each year since 2000, initially by a member of the Swiss parliament and more recently by a Bay Area philosophy professor.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I agree with your analysis completely. Van Houten may someday get paroled (she is the only one of the Manson family still imprisoned who has any real chance of parole), but she will be an old, old woman when it happens.
Thank you kindly. Through a glass darkly now, and if have sincere devotion in our hearts, we'll see the Lord face to face one of these days.
Hang him.
Because I disagree with you (and the ACLU, the Hollywood left and Tookie Williams) on this issue?
You think rehabilitation is a consideration on a capitol pusnishment case, I do not (nor on a life sentance). It is a difference of opinion, not personal.
A difference of opinion.. that is obvious. Disagreeing is one thing. Having a solid ground for said disagreement is quite another. You seem to think that disagreement in and of itself is useful or purposeful. Just because you can isn't a reason.
Nor is it bedevilment to point out that your stance is wrong.
I have offered that it may be. As I noted before, I don't know all the details of the case. I'm approaching this from the hypothetical. Justice must be done to be sure. But, if the purpose is met in mercy, then Justice is also served. Don't be a pharisee.
I do not believe she will ever leave prison alive. I also see where Arnold is going to give Williams a hearing and I believe he will grant him clemency for political gain but I hope not.
We are indeed on the same wavelength. I really don't care if capitol punishment doesn't deter crime. You are right that THAT GUY won't be committing any more, and for me it is a question of him not being around any more to have ANY pleasures of this life. No books, no weight room, no mashed potatoes, nothing. The victims don't have that.
I have to agree with you 100%. We should also bring back pillory for non-violent crimes. A few hours of public humillition will accomplish more than several years behind bars. Plus it would be an excellent deterrent and probably prevent a lot would-be lawbreakers from starting down the criminal path.
I've mentioned this on FR a number of times. A few years ago I served on a grand jury for several months, heard a lot and got my eyes opened about what goes on behind the scenes, heard a lot of testimony from LEOs, witnesses, and the district attorneys. I live in a very rural, red county in a western blue state. At the end of our grand jury time, the head DA spoke to me privately, and when I opined that public caning would be the only way to really help the crime problem, he emphatically, off the record, agreed with me. But he said the public would never go for it.
I have no idea why people think such public punishments are cruel. One day in the stocks, or one incident of 15 stripes with a rattan cane, and the perp is free to chart a new path in life. Compare that with losing a few years in jail, coming out worse than he went in.
Public shame and public pain, and it also teaches those who witness the punishment. Our justice system is broken.
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