Death Penalty

Terri Winchell

The practice of executing perpetrators of serious crimes is one of the more controversial aspects of American society. Recently a federal judge ruled that California's method of execution -- death by lethal injectoin -- is unacceptable because the murderer in question might feel pain. The San Francisco Chronicle has been following this case:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/22/MNGSUHCJFB1.DTL

No one in their right mind could feel sorry for Michael Morales, who viciously beat, raped and murdered a 17-year old girl 25 years ago. The man is a poster child for the cause of those who think we SHOULD torture those who prey upon the weak and vulnerable.

Apparently U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel somehow has come to equate the Eighth Amendment prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment" with an execution that is "painless" to the perpetrator and risk-free vis-a-vis mishaps (e.g., insufficient anesthetic given prior to execution). Fogel arrives at this decision despite the fact that death by lethal injection is used in 36 states and has been around a long time.

Is the death penalty cruel and barbaric?

Hell yes. It's a tough punishment to fit the unbelievably awful crimes committed by the worst of the worst in our society. It has to be an awful thing to sit in prison for 25 years knowing that one day, the state will finally get around to putting out your lights. Good.

Of course, it is easy for those opposed to the ultimate penalty to forget about the incredible suffering of the victims in these cases:

According to prosecution testimony, based partly on his alleged admissions to friends, Morales sat behind Winchell in a car and tried to choke her with a belt. When the belt broke, he pounded her on the head 23 times with a claw hammer, then dragged her unconscious and dying body out to a vineyard north of
Lodi, [California] where he raped her. He then stabbed her four times. [San Francisco Chronicle article, supra].

Opponents love to trot out straw men, like the specter of innocent people being put to death. While that may be a theoretical possibility, with the number of appeals and other reforms, I am not concerned about it.

Remember the big hue and cry about Tookie Williams a few months ago? The world was going to come to an end if poor Tookie wasn't allowed to live to keep writing children's books about why not to get involved in gangs. Well, Jesse Jackson went off to Terrell Owens' party, Tookie was finally put down, and the world has kept on turning without him, somehow.

If Michael Morales feels a little twinge in his chest in the last few moments of his life, it is nothing compared to what Terri Winchell went through back in 1981. Let's remember that punishment and deterrence are the bedrock of our criminal laws.