Retribution is dead

Today our the great state of Illinois joined the ranks of the likes of New York and New Mexico in banning the death penalty. Banned once before in Illinois, it was put back into practice in the 70s and put on hold by George Ryan just before he left office. The reason? Illinois kept getting it wrong. The number of people who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death reached into the high teens, and the demographics of the convicted greatly slanted towards the darker hue of the color spectrum versus those convicted of similar crimes and NOT sentenced. In other words, justice was not equal.

It's hard to use those um-teen number of overturned convictions though to rationalize getting rid of the death penalty. Due to the slow nature of the justice system generally, it's not out of the realm of reason to assume many of those fine gentlemen wrongly convicted and imprisoned for such a long time were tried under a justice system that was racially biased to begin with. Many of them were likely tried at the height of the civil rights movement or soon after. And with the long appeals process they didn't get exonerated until the 80s, 90s or some even as recently as the 2000s. It would appear to me then that the issue isn't who we're putting to death, but how we're deciding who should be put to death--it's the judicial process to blame here, not the death penalty.

Granted the death penalty didn't offer much in the form as a deterrent. People continued to commit heinous crimes even after the death penalty was reinstated. Violent crime in Chicago is allegedly down compared to previous years and we had a moratorium on putting people to death. But there's something to be said about having a remedy for those that are the worst offenders against society's laws. Sure having to live in a 5x10 cell for 23 hours a day for the rest of one's life is rough. But people are funny in a particular way--we adapt to our circumstances.

Forcing someone to live in a 5x10 is pretty bad--at least until they get used to living that way (which is what makes it hard for individuals released from prison to easily transition back into society, but that's another blog for another day). Once one gets used to living like that, living the rest of your life that way ain't so bad. You readers may say "there's no way in hell I could do that." And you're probably right. Many of us would go crazy or try or take our own lives than to live in a 5x10 room with a toilet and a bed. But we're already talking about "special" people here--they are the same people that killed, raped, beat, dismembered and/or mutilated someone else remember? Their mind is already messed up. So they adapt.

Over the course of time men and women have been put to death for a lot less than what we send people to death row for today. Treason I believe is a federal crime still punishable by death in this country--and sometimes what's defined as "treason" can't seriously be any worse than killing ones own parents, sister and nieces and nephews (exactly what one of Illinois' current death row inmates is accused of). Surely we're more evolved and progressive as a society--hell America even elected a Black man president!--but really Samuel Jackson had it right when he said "YES THEY DESERVE TO DIE AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!" There are those who simply don't deserve to enjoy life on any level given the damage they've done. It's not just the life or lives they take directly--it's the ripple effects on those harmed by their acts indirectly as well. Mental anguish and trauma of relatives and friends that continue to suffer while the criminal gets to keep air in their lungs.

Ultimately we as a society need to be more progressive with our trying of criminals rather than our sentencing. Sure there are few benefits to the death penalty, but it's really the principal of the thing. If we can't trust our justice system to bring justice and provide retribution, individuals will eventually take matters into their own hands. And as luck would have it, they likely will be the ones facing the death penalty once they do.