still thinking about the death penalty. enjoying the dialog between Lee, Shelagh, Tess, and myself, among others. and so this morning, i went off looking for some statstics, some facts, some major trend, something obvious…
yes, i wanted to prove my own point, isn’t all statistcs-gathering about that? but the fact is that violent crime touches a huge percentage of the billions of people on this planet, and each crime is an individual human event, and the effects spread like ripples on water, no one is untouched. so i’m going to address some things i’ve observed locally over the years.
in ventura county, we have an extremely bloodthirsty crew in the DA’s office. they will energetically prosecute a case, using millions of taxpayer dollars, when they could have a life without parole conviction for free. they’re doing that right now, to a monster named Vincent Sanchez. i’m not saying Sanchez should live. but i would rather have him in the maximum security prison with no possibility of parole, and have millions of dollars left over to get other predators off the street, or provide assistance to families of victims. a shift of priorities would make such a difference with our limited resources, which are being squandered for mostly political gain. we had a guy running for DA with 100% conviction rate, which can only be achieved by selective prosecution of cases — picking your battles, as it were. the well-off and well-lawyered experience a totally different justice system than the clients of the Public Defender’s office do.
also, there are different values placed on the lives taken. the socioeconomic status of the victim is a prime consideration. there have been a number of savage murders of homeless folks around here, and never, ever a death penalty trial. nationally, 54% of death row inmates are people of color. 83% of the victims were white. oddly enough, a significant majority of murder victims are minorities — but their killers are far, far less likely to be sentenced to death.
i won’t even go into the backstabbing old-boyism demonstrated during and after the local DA election. these are ruthless people. they have high political aspirations.
i’m not even sure i have a point today. i follow local capital trials closely, have for years, and many of the things i know, i’ve absorbed over a long period of close observation. i have a general impression of how the system works around here, and it’s politics, not justice, that makes the wheels turn.
made perfect sense to me.
Absolutely! The impression of the US and the death sentence from this side of the pond is that US politicians still believe that the death penalty is seen as a vote catcher. That any candidate who opposes it runs the risk of being perceived as soft on crime.
well, depends on the area. around here, it’s a huge deal. ventura county is like Texas, Jr. with its rate of sending people to death row, and the voters seem to dig it.
I’m totally out of the loop – what did Sanchez do?
it’s a local case, don’t think it made national news: he was a serial rapist that graduated to killing. he killed a local college student, Megan Barroso. he’s offered to plead out for life without parole, but they’re determined to kill him. not to mention, he’s already convicted on plenty of crimes, serving sentences that will keep him locked away forever. total overkill. playing to the crowd.
and, our local DA’s office just wasted about 1.3 MILLION dollars chasing the local chapter of the Hell’s Angels. they had nothin’ on ‘em, they got a total of a few weeks jail time for a few bikers out of all that posturing and wasting money, just because they were wanting to make dramatic headlines.
these guys around here, they play to the crowd.
Kd, the discussions have indeed given me pause to think outside of my own perspective. While I believe that there *should* be a death penalty, I agree that within the current system it’s a less than perfect “solution”.
To provide balance, this page lists some common “death penalty opponent fallacies”, of which I’ve neither researched or looked for rebuttals to its claims. I found some of the remarks within interesting, is all:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2002/06-03-2002/vo18no11_fallacies.htm
interesting points — actually, a few months back, i did some serious researching, spent a few hours reading the stuff at prodeathpenalty.com, as well as looking at the anti-death-penalty sites. everybody has facts and statistics to back their point, i looked those up yesterday and you can pick and choose from huge, huge lists of statistical data, and present it however you see fit.
i think it comes down to a personal level, at least for me. both the pro and anti movement sites have that feel to them, that ‘we’re right the other guy’s wrong’ feel. and i don’t think the other side’s wrong, i think the other side has a point. i could refute about half those arguements off the top of my head, but the others, well, they have points. which amount to opinions. which are different than mine. but points, nonetheless.
but my own, personally held opinion, based on being an avid trial rubbernecker in Ventura County for the last decade or so, is that it’s political, it’s the old-boy network, it’s biased against poor *victims*, and prosecutions are undertaken when the job of getting the monster off the street is already done and over with.
my main and most basic reason for feeling the way i do is my own emotional feeling that killing is vengeful, and i don’t want this in myself, and i don’t want to be in the same classification as China, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as far as the state-sanctioned killing policy.
i can’t help but bring up the other reasons, because debating this fascinates me. so many perspectives. so many facts and feelings. such a life and death issue.
Thanks for the link, Tess. I read over it and like kd says above it shows the opposite of everything we’ve used to argue against it. Like you though, I haven’t checked official statistics to see which side is showing the most reliable data.
And I can’t speak for how politics affects capital cases in my area, because I’ve actually only followed a few cases where that outcome was possible. However, in the small county where I was raised, every drug dealer in the area knew to close up shop around election time. Drugs were our most prevalent problem (and still are), and the Sheriff would always crack down when his job was on the line. It seemed nothing was ever done during the rest of his term though.
So I think it all falls back to the point you made. Our justice system needs work whether one agrees or disagrees with the death penalty. Justice should be dispensed fairly everyday and for everyone.
“it’s politics, not justice, that makes the wheels turn”
AMEN!
kd, thank you for posting this. I think you brought up yet another issue surrounding the death penalty, politics. And this is such a complex part of the whole picture it deserves a post of it’s own. I’ll be back …
That comment made no sense, but if I’m lucky you understood my point.
Hey, you know what they call politics here? Politricks.
Nuff said.
I was married to a man on death row for a year – yes, long story, but yes, it’s true. He killed three people – he was a Satanist – when he was 15. He had a history of suffering severe child abuse, as well as psychiatric problems and drug abuse. No prior record of ANY crimes, not even petty theft. What did Oklahoma do? Tried him as an ADULT, saw him become rehabilitated out of his OWN DOING – he was a “model” prisoner on death row – but they killed him anyway. He should have been given HELP and tried as a juvenille, but he wasn’t. His case has been one of Amnesty International’s biggest outrages. Justice was not served the day that he died. But Governor Keating’s agenda sure was.
A lot of people don’t realize that it’s actually MORE costly to kill inmates than it is to give them life without parole.
I agree that America’s “justice” system is more political than anything. If Sean had come from a rich family who could pay more towards hiring a “private” attorney, I’m willing to bet that he would have been reduced to life without parole…but what about psychiatric help? America doesn’t know what rehabilitation IS and I DO believe that rehab. is possible with many inmates who are just left to “burn.”
Good topic, KD!
)
We have our own little old-boy network here in Ohio…and this state makes Texas look positively cosmopolitan when it comes to politics. I’m sure you guys have seen James Traficant on the news…the guy with the opossum on his head? Our local representatives are still supporting this guy, even though he’s been convicted on 10 counts in a federal court.
and, he’s completely insane. completely. full-on whacko nutjob.
yeah, politics is nutty everywhere, pretty much.
Politricks – I like that!
Oooooh I like “politricks.” very nifty, indeed.
So Traficant doesn’t have a job now. And the lone vote in the nay column belongs to Gary Condit. Can someone explain the logic behind that one?
are you saying Condit’s on the ethics committee? or was this a general vote?
’cause, Condit and ethics… my god.
How dare you. I am Megan’s first and closest cousin (My mom and her only sibling, Suzan Barroso, Meg’s mom). Do you not understand that it is not enough that Sanchez is locked away? Why should our grandfather and my aunt Sue continue to spend their tax dollars to keep this demon alive in a cell somewhere? Why don’t you tell my aunt that we’ve been given justice becuse his sorry ass is behind bars. Why don’t you tell those women who awoke to find a masked man hovering if not on them in the dark of night wielding a knife to their throats intent to kill them if they didn’t comply. Why don’t you tell them not to have nightmares of being attacked where they feel safest, in their own homes because Sanchez is behind bars. Hmmmm…wasn’t Bundy locked up and escaped twice??? Have you lost your own child, sibling or close friend to such a horrific tragedy? Until then, keep your trap shut and opinion to those in YOUR family, and away from mine and those who stummble across your pathetic website. To call Sanchez a “monster” is an understatement, and as far as I’m concerned, you yourself are a monster of a different kind, spreading your pish-posh opinion. Congrats to your 15 minutes of pathetic celebrity. So sad you had to gain it by the tragedy in our lives.
Without Regard,
Officer Jennifer Perkins
Seattle, Washington