Jamie R

Now to write about something I feel very strongly about – death row. I’ve just heard that Stanley “Tookie” Williams is to be executed in under 24 hours. Now I’ve known about his execution for some time now, however I thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger would actually grant clemency to Tookie for what he’s done whilst he’s been in jail.

Okay, Tookie has been convicted of 4 murders whilst the leader of the Crips gang in 1979, and this has to be taken into account. He is a murderer when you think about it, however after spending 6 years in solitary confinement, he wrote a series of children’s books warning the evils of gang warfare and how gangs are bad for soceity and anyone involved with them. Nearly all killers just let themselves rot in jail – Tookie did not Tookie let himself become an icon of inspiration for thousands of people. He doesn’t deserve to die – he’s been an excellent inspiration for loads of people. Tookie’s plight and story was even turned into a Hollywood Movie starting Jamie Foxx which was a moving film to say the least.

I think a huge injustice has been done here. He maintains innocence of the crimes he was accused of, and faced racist discrimination throughout his trial. One issue highlighted the fact that the prosecutor in Tookie’s original case removed three African-American jurors from the jury. During Stan’s trial, this prosecutor made racially-coded remarks during his closing argument, comparing Stan during the trial to a Bengal tiger in the zoo and stating that a black community – South Central Los Angeles – was equivalent to the natural “habitat” of a Bengal Tiger. I think that this disgusting court treatment has lead to the murder of Tookie.

His trial was based on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of several witnesses, all of whom were facing a range of felony charges, including fraud, rape, murder and mutilation. At the crime scenes, there was physical evidence that pointed to Crips, however there wasn’t any evidence that pointed to Tookie…

Tookie has been nominated 5 times for the Nobel Peace Prize for being such an inspiration to youngsters by promoting that gangs are indeed wrong, and how joining gangs can make your life so much different from what it was. Gang warfare is evil – Tookie went from bad to good. Although a basis for clemency can’t be attained from the fact that Stanley Williams changed from a man who was full of evil and hatred to a grey haired man who wrote children’s books promoting the evils of gangs, I believe that it should be used as part of a basis for clemency – Tookie has done a lot more than the *average* prisoner on death row.

From http://www.savetookie.org

“From a 9-by-4 foot cell he has undertaken extraordinary work to serve humanity in his effort to reverse the destructive legacy of the Crips youth gang. If Governor Schwarzenegger grants clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams he will have made an historic move to diminish youth violence in this country and abroad because of the powerful work that Stan would be able to continue to do, using his credible voice to reduce the presence of street gangs throughout this nation and around the world. Even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote an unprecedented conclusion to its September 10, 2002, ruling about Stan. The Court concluded that Stan was doing “laudable” work that made him “worthy” of consideration for clemency.”

[removed bit which I think is unfair seeing as I wrote it when I was very pissed off...]

I don’t think it’s fair pumping a pile of Sodium Thiopental, Pancuronium Bromide and Potassium Chloride into a bloke who has done so much to change the world.
I’m not just speaking because I’m a GCSE Philosophy and Ethics student, I’m speaking from what I believe. I do NOT believe in murdering someone who has taken so much time to try and rid the world of gangs and gang violence. Tookie might have been sentenced to death for his involvement with Crips but he never actually murdered a single person – something he’s always maintained and something I believe.

Suffice to say, I do not think that Tookie should be murdered,

Jamie.