Tookie Williams denied clemency

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Boss Radio

Personally, I’d much rather see taxpayer money go towards community outreach to help out the next generation of underprivileged kids, than to watch it go toward three squares a day, computer access, exercise equipment and medical resources on lifers. Let them generate their own power on treadmills, let them grow and prepare their own food. If the food runs out, they can eat each other.

But that's just my opinion.

The cost of getting someone executed far outpaces the cost of life in prison due to the lengthy and expensive appeals process. And because of the finality of the deed, that lengthy and expensive appeals process is a necessity. If you're going to put someone to death, you damn well better make sure you're right about their guilt. As such, it can neither be an effective deterrent (by the time it happens, it's so far removed from the crime), it does nothing to ease the pain of the vicitims' families (study after study has shown this), it's not a cost effective solution (see above), and even with the most stringent appeals process carries the risk of killing an innocent person.

It is the law as it stands, and I have not seen anything that suggest to me that Tookie Williams deserves exemption from that law, so I'm not surprised or upset about Arnold's decission not to grant clemency. But the death penalty needs to go.