OCR Text |
Show Grass Uoots America f "f Capital Punishment: And Who Shall Weep for the Victims? BY Jk'KKY MAK11N V;iu.-u'i's penuiMeness v ioU'uI crime reached ' ,. plateau this car when Vurt ruling abolished trio Villi pvnaltv and throw upon ,v joors of Death How u fiery prison m America Vaior-S those h0 h-ul t,u'lr Vi!t sentences autoinalieal-I, autoinalieal-I, commuted to no inoro th.in i-v imprisonment are such J'.'jimous criminals 4sS1rt1.u1 i"'-!un, tlx' asassut who kil-U kil-U KoN'i't K. Keniustv. Charles Char-les Hanson, leader ot thehip-'.if thehip-'.if cult responsible (or tlio Vi'.fts of seven pooplo phis i dreds of ottior solo mur-i-rvrs. mass killers, rapists L-.J kidnapers. A'.:houh tho I' S Supreme Court held that capital pim-.., pim-.., eivt . as applied m most sii'tes. is unconstitutional, ie divided ruling loft tho ivr o;vn for tho death pen-to pen-to bo restored through '-'.s'.ative or congressional K'.lcO. $0 capital punishment ill bo iKijor issue 111 coining leg-Is'at;' leg-Is'at;' e sessions 111 every The people of Califor-ii Califor-ii iU vote Nov. 7 011 acon-itittiotul acon-itittiotul amendment that seeis to over-rule that Sta- to's Supromo Court 011 the grounds that only the people themselves, either by referendum refer-endum or through their elected elec-ted representatives, have the authority to make so sweeping sweep-ing a decision. There's no douM that many opponents of capital punishment punish-ment are sincere, motivated bv compassion, ch.iritv ami a deep belief 111 the tliblieal ln-luntion ln-luntion "Thou Shalt Not Kill." Ono can respect this view without agreeing ith it. In the Ions campaign to out-l-i capital punishment, ministers mini-sters have staged prayer visits vi-sits outside prison sates. When the last convict was executed ex-ecuted in California, church tvlls tolled throughout tho state. Hut there w ere no tears for the victim of the murder,' a policeman slain in the line of duty. Nor have the beneficiaries of the death penalty decision shwou any of the noble traits that cause many sincere people peo-ple to abhor capital punishment. punish-ment. They displayed no mercy. mer-cy. Some have yet to exhibit the slightest remorse for their crimes. Who weeps for their inno cent victims.' Where are tho prayer vigils when a prison Suard is killed by a psychopathic psycho-pathic convict with nothing to lose by further violence? For a prisoner serving a life sentence, the ban on capital punishment really amounts to a license to kill. Many myths have been spread spr-ead about capital punishment, it's said to be a penalty reserved re-served almost exclusively for minorities. That allegation is false. Most of the Death Row population before the court rulings were Caueasion. Many of them had been involved in-volved in vicious crimes before, be-fore, including murder. The statistical argument on w hether capital punishment is 01' is not a deterrent to crime cri-me ignores tho most essential essen-tial point, if capital punishment, punish-ment, carried out utter a lury decrees it and the courts "l'hold the sentoce, saves tho lilo of even a silicic innocent victim, it should be retained liecause the purpose of law is to protect tho innocent, not shield the guilty from the consequences of their crimes. Ironically, in California, which outlawed capital punishment pun-ishment months before the U.S. Supreme Court acted, there exists indisputable proof pro-of that tho death penalty does indeed deter crime. One of the convicts on Death Row in California killed before. Ho was sentenced to die in Canada for that crime, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison when Quebec abolished capital punishment. Later, he escaped, fled to California and killed two more people, a crime for w hich ho was again sentenced to death. Now he lives. Yet. if his original sentence had boon carried out, the two innocent inno-cent California victims would still be alive. It's as simple as that. Who weeps for them? |