BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

Maybe someone can explain to me why we have a so-called “death belt” which is roughly the same as what we call “the Bible belt.”  Texas, Florida, Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, and Alabama….Together they account for almost 80% of the executions America has seen since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.  Most of the other states either forbid capital punishment or rarely use the laws on their books, but in the South, putting people to death has become a way of life. In Alabama, 69% of those executed since 1976 were black.  In Georgia, 55%.  Even though blacks are more likely to be victims of murder than whites, the overwhelming majority of capital cases involve crimes committed against white people.

The painful truth is that whether a person receives the death penalty or life in prison depends far more on the lawyer than on the crime.  A defendant who cannot afford an experienced and competent lawyer is far more likely to be sentenced to death than someone who can. 

The O.J. Simpsons of the world don’t go to the electric chair.  It’s the poor, the minorities, even the retarded.

By the way, there is a common misconception that life imprisonment is more costly to the taxpayer than simply executing the criminal.  The truth is that the average cost of life imprisonment is $500,000.  Capital punishment  cases each run from 1 million to 7 million each.

I’m impressed by what Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, recently said,

“An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of human life. Morality is never upheld by legalized murder.”

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday