I’m listening to a mother and her kids (Christians at that) discussing the death penalty in this restaurant.

And every one of her kids is contradicting her point and expressing their opposition to the death penalty, which surprises me… in a good way. Usually it’s Christians expressing support for the death from from their presumed place of judgment.

I couldn’t help myself, and chimed in to tell them about the Innocence Project. (Which most of you know has helped more than 300 people clear their names of rape and murder charges.)

1 ♥ 12.14.12

Is anyone really surprised that some douchebag legislator in Arkansas supports the death penalty for disobedient kids?

I’m not.

1 ♥ 10.09.12

On the National Registry of Exonerations

I’m actually rather surprised that this is something new. One would think that our country would have some organized system for keeping track of people who were wrongfully convicted, but I digress.

Those cataloging the database have identified 2000 wrongfully convicted people since 1989 alone. The Innocence Project has been involved in 300 exonerations, and I’d wager these people were eternally grateful the day they walked out of prison.

If you ask me, this is just more evidence that we need to deal away with the death penalty. The knowledge that our justice system gets it wrong this often is alarming, and if you truly support life, how then can you justify your support for a punishment that can’t be undone?

Personally, I’d take it a step further. Given the opportunity, I’d support laws that remove immunity for prosecutorial misconduct and strengthen laws that provide reparations to people who were wrongfully imprisoned.

It’s only fair if one was forced to endure prison on false premises.

2 ♥ 05.21.12

I’d say congratulations to Robert Dewey on his exoneration..

…but after eighteen years behind bars for a crime he did not commit I sort of feel like he’s owed a collective apology from society.

Kudos to the Innocence Project for helping to see justice done.

1 ♥ 04.30.12

On God, the Bible, and the Death Penalty

From a Pastor: “Perhaps you should try reading the Bible, because it is God saying a murderer needs to die. Does it preach forgiveness? Yes. Does it also preach judgment? Yes. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament endorse capital punishment. This isn’t my opinion this is God’s Word - the Bible. I choose not to stand in judgment on God’s Word and simply accept it. A time comes when people by their evil choice forfeit their right to life. God ordains that government protect its citizens from them. Rom 13:1-4 (do you want a list of the others?). The sword the passage refers to is used for capital punishment.

By your ‘logic’ why does forgiving only mean no death penalty? Why doesn’t it then include no life imprisonment? Or even no imprisonment at all? Heck let’s just forgive them and put them back on the street, right next door to you! Of course it should be used with great caution upon clear evidence. But it is seeing the value of life that God has given us, created in His image, that leads me to accept God’s Word. There is no inconsistency - if there is your problem is with God.”

This little gem popped up on my facebook newsfeed this morning, and I just don’t have the patience for such incredible nonsense today.

For starters, the Bible contradicts itself completely here To see Christians using the Bible as their ‘evidence’ demonstrates their mind-numbing stupidity. The Bible explicitly states that God’s love is unconditional, but that unconditional love does not apply if don’t bow down and lick Jesus’s sandals. If you don’t honor Jesus, you are condemned to eternal torture and punishment. (Which is hardly appropriate, given most human beings are generally good and moral people.) The Bible preaches that you should love your neighbor and treat them as you wish to be treated, but flip back a few pages and you’ll find God commanding his followers to make war upon neighboring tribes and explicitly commanding them to leave none alive.

Let us also remember that this is the same god who threw a hissy fit and decided to flood the entire world, killing untold numbers of innocent people. (That is, if this nonsense were actually true.)

Forgive me if I don’t look to your god for guidance on how to handle interpersonal relations. It’s because your god is morally bankrupt.

Forgiving means no death penalty because an execution cannot be reversed, and to empower the state to take the life of a person is patently barbaric, whatever the reason. And to imply that opposition to the death penalty equates to support for freeing murderers is absurd and blatantly fallacious, especially when the basis of your beliefs is a set of myths that don’t make any moral sense when compared to one another.

03.22.12

longreads:

Ruby Session was shaking as she read on. The year was 2007, and the letter was addressed to her son Timothy Cole. “I have been trying to locate you since 1995 to tell you I wish to confess I did in fact commit the rape Lubbock wrongly convicted you of.”

Ruby sat down, stood up. A picture of Tim in a tuxedo, taken at his junior prom, smiled from the mantle. Before his trial the prosecutor had offered him a deal to plead to lesser charges. “Mother,” Tim had said, “I am not pleading guilty to something I didn’t do.” He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Thirteen years later, he died behind bars.

The Texas criminal-justice system has long had a harsh reputation, but it has drawn renewed scrutiny with Gov. Rick Perry’s run for president. During the past 11 years, Perry has presided over 238 executions, including the infamous case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was put to death based on a dubious arson investigation. In a September debate, Perry famously said that he had lost no sleep over the possibility of an innocent man being executed on his watch.

“No Country for Innocent Men.” — Beth Schwartzapfel, Mother Jones

See more #longreads on the death penalty

We are a country of barbarians where too few give a second thought to the fact that we not only destroy the lives of our own citizens simply because we want to see someone punished, but we destroy whole countries and millions of lives abroad.

562 ♥ 12.13.11

diegueno:

(via Wall Photos)

194 ♥ 09.27.11

alapoet:

He was 14 yrs. 6mos. and 5 days old —- and the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th Century George Junius Stinney, Jr., [b. 1929 - d. 1944] In a South Carolina prison sixty-six years ago, guards walked a 14-year-old boy, bible tucked under his arm, to the electric chair. At 5’ 1” and 95 pounds, the straps didn’t fit, and an electrode was too big for his leg. The switch was pulled and the adult sized death mask fell from George Stinney’s face. Tears streamed from his eyes. Witnesses recoiled in horror as they watched the youngest person executed in the United States in the past century die. (via He was 14 yrs. 6mos. and 5 days old —- and the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th Century | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)

I’ve reblogged this several times before, but it doesn’t matter, we mustn’t forget our history, nor whitewash the barbaric actions of our ancestors.

134 ♥ 09.27.11

Update on Troy Davis

socialismartnature:

UPDATE on the struggle to save Troy Davis. Call Judge Penny Fressesmann call 912-652-7252 or fax 912-652-7254. She is the only one who can stop this execution! Keep calling and faxing since the phone lines are jammed up.

10 ♥ 09.20.11

abaldwin360:

pantslessprogressive:

“The upshot is that Perry is essentially an accessory to murder. He executed an innocent man, displaying zero interest in the man’s innocence. When a commission subsequently investigated the episode, Perry fired its members.

It is telling that the political culture that has nurtured Perry is so morally demented that demonstrating that he blithely executed an innocent man is not a political liability.” - Jonathan Chait

“It Takes Balls To Execute An Innocent Man”

I read about this on reddit this morning want instantly went, “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK???” - this is what’s wrong with this country - governor condones execution of an innocent man, supporter says “It takes balls to execute and innocent man.”

What if that innocent man had been his father, his brother, what the fuck America?

When violence is equated to strength and masculinity culturally, this is the kind of bullshit that becomes tolerable. Perry is an accessory to a murder, regardless of the fact that it was carried out by the state.

179 ♥ 08.04.11