Death Penalty
I see that Texas
is about to execute a woman who has been placed on death row. Whether or not she is a woman has no influence on me, instead she is the 517th
person to die in Texas where
apparently everyone is dying to live. To support
that belief, it is evidenced as having had the highest death by justice rate in
the United States. It is in my opinion that we are no better than criminals
ourselves to allow this injustice of using the death penalty to continue.
In this case my
opinions are based on reading the article in yahoo news I intend to cite. I have
several problems with Texas’s rush to justice in the execution of Mary Lee Campbell
for the death of Devontae Williams. I have deepest sympathy for Devontae Williams
but I feel Texas as a state shares responsibility in his death. Regardless, the
last minute remorse on the part of both accused demonstrates at the very least,
an ounce of compassion in their alleged crime against Devontae Williams. Also
the extent to which a jury found one party, Mary Lee Campbell ,as having
received one sentence for her convicted crime while the second party, Marcella Williams
, Devontae’s mother having received another for part, yet both were equally
responsible under law for his safe care.
May lee Campbell
received a death sentence while Devontae’s mother Marcella received only a life
sentence yet both were party to the same crime. This in itself is a crime on
the part of the state of Texas if allowed to proceed with their sentence as I am
sure they will. All men are created equal is a term we have coined in history
yet seems not to apply in our courtrooms and surely not in Texas. Along the
same lines and yet another argument in favor of opposition to the death penalty
in general is the fact they are criminally insane, and therefore should receive
treatment or consideration for their alleged mental ability to differentiate
right from wrong , the same as the mentally insane are. In effect as the state of Texas lays claim to
its inhabitants and is allowed to govern over their welfare they should also
acknowledge their responsibility to provide fair and reasonable treatment of
their mental and criminally insane peoples. There seems to be a rush to justice
as the state of Texas wants to remove those in society that are perceived as a burden
to the majority of the populace, and also as a threat to the security of the
state of Texas.
Being mentally
insane and criminally insane are one and the same. The line that separates the definition
of criminally insane and mentally insane is fuzzy at best. It is a grey area
where it is best defined that a person is removed from society and placed in
the care of the state that they were born in or committed an alleged offense in,
or is perceived as threat to themselves or others, or in the last case unable
to provide for themselves according to the norms of society. Any test you put
to the death penalty I am sure that even the criminally insane can be put in
one of these categories and their case should be weighed the same as if it were
a mentally insane person. The only real difference is that the mentally insane
person sometimes just thinks about hurting others. The lines that define the
limits of society’s norms vary from region to region and are based on a
tradition of old world mentality. Meaning that murderers are of no use to
society so should be killed as they did to others. An eye for an eye seems to be the only justice
we need.
Is this reason
to kill someone? Ethically speaking to take a life for a life or lives is no
better than being murderers ourselves. Should we keep a person for life as a
burden on our system? Not necessarily. Giving them the option of ending their
life as it is,should always be a possibility. Suicides are prevalent in our society
and we are powerless to prevent them. Faced with incarceration for life, I myself
would favor a lethal dose of morphine to the forever foreboding of four walls
to prevent me from having any kind of life. This should always be an option to
anyone in our prison system who desires to take the easy route for society. Otherwise I think it is human nature to err,
and some crimes although never forgiven should include rehabilitation if
possible or be accepted as a responsibility of the mainstream of society. The death sentence should never be an option
for a civilized society. And even here in the state of Ohio we need to take
strides to repeal any death sentence and accept our burden as a state of the
people to treat people equally and humanely, regardless of race and gender.
In this case I also
see that both those involved Mary Lee Campbell and Marcella Williams, in the
death of Devontae Williams had tried to show remorse by feeding him and trying
to keep him alive, which makes me wonder that since both of the alleged were women,
then the reason he may have been kept alive was to receive benefits from the state
of Texas in the form of Aid to Dependent Children. This alone makes me wonder if
society didn’t let Devontae down and could have prevented his death by assuring
that he was adequately cared for since I am sure he was receiving benefits from
the state of Texas, in the form of welfare and food stamps. Why wasn’t there a
house visit before his death or made to personally appear to assure he was
alive and well and that the money spent was actually being used to raise the
child. Evidence of his abuse would have been discovered early on.
This also makes m wonder
about the school system and whether they had truancy officers who would have
questioned the parents about the boy’s condition since he was unable to attend
school despite being 9 years old. Surely he would have missed quite a few
school days in his malnourished condition. Could this have been prevented? Is
the state of Texas equally culpable as they apparently had no idea the child
was in such an emaciated condition, so which social service let this child down
when they could have early on prevented his death? Why is there such an
unbalanced form of penalty that one receives a death sentence while the other only
receives life for the same crime?
Maybe it is just
the article but from the facts I have gleaned I think the state of Texas has it’s
head up its ass again and needs to pull it out and take a second look before
staining its hands red again. As well we here in Ohio need to value fairness in
our legal system and treat the criminal element of our society as mentally
insane to a degree also, especially those that are at the far end of the
spectrum of our norms. Murderers and hardened criminals have a psyche of their
own of non-conformity in our society due to whatever influence in their life. It
is similar to being mentally insane, and we should treat it accordingly.
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