It shouldn’t surprise us in Texas that Californians cite weaknesses in our criminal justice system in supporting a ballot proposition to ban executions in that bluest of blue states.
If that helps make the case with some Golden State voters to end the practice there, so much the better, from the perspective of this newspaper’s opposition to the death penalty as inherently flawed and unevenly applied. Still, it’s uncomfortable when our ugliest warts are exposed.
The California vote on Nov. 6 is a referendum on a capital punishment system that has little resemblance to our own. California has the largest death row of any state — at 724, easily twice the size of Texas’ — yet has executed only 13 inmates since capital punishment resumed 20 years ago. Texas executed 13 murderers last year alone, among 486 since reinstatement.
Some California capital punishment supporters say their state’s routine of interminable appeals is the problem, and they cite their very first death row inmate, who is still fighting his sentence 34 years later. If only the machinery of death could be sped up, they say.
That’s where Texas enters the discussion, since, along with the relative speed of most executions, our state’s mistakes are renowned. No state has more DNA-proven exonerations, highlighting the indefensible risk of executing an innocent person.
In a series of editorials last month, The Sacramento Bee reversed its more than 150 years of support for capital punishment and urged passage of Proposition 34. One editorial bore this headline: “Death penalty Texas style? No, thank you.”
West Virginia's Charleston Gazette publishes the editorial, "Pro-death: Remnant from past."
Nearly every modern democracy -- except one -- has abandoned the barbaric death penalty, a relic from crude medieval times. It's sad that America has a lot of vengeful "pro-death" people, sustaining the custom in this country.Even so, several states like West Virginia have stopped killing prisoners, and the practice survives mostly in Deep Dixie.
Pennsylvania is going through torment over executions, specifically over a prisoner named Terrance Williams.
And:
We feel quietly proud that West Virginia banned the death penalty in 1965, and has resisted many attempts to revive it. The Mountain State has many "pro-death" residents, and the state Republican platform sometimes calls for a return of executions.
The fact that West Virginia has a low rate of murder shows that executions aren't necessary to deter people from killing.
During one of many legislative debates on the issue, the late Roger Tompkins of Kanawha County -- whose uncle had been brutally murdered -- summed up the morality of the matter well when he told fellow lawmakers:
"There is something in each of us that loves a killing. But we are not animals, and we know it is wrong to take another's life."
Earlier coverage on Prop. 34, the SAFE California ballot initiative, and the Terry Williams' case begins at the links.
Related posts are in the abolition and editorial category indexes.
Comments