"An Eye For An Eye Makes The Whole World Blind" ~M. Gandhi
I'd like to think we, the occupants of the United States of America, we, the citizens and tax payers of this great country have a fair and thorough judicial system, a criminal justice system without personal prejudices but in truth and scary reality, we really don't.
The state of Georgia's court system killed a man last night by lethal injection without having any hard evidence that he actually committed the crime that he was being accused of committing. Troy Anthony Davis, was executed last night. He is dead. He can’t get his life back and all they had on him is hearsay about said crime. This man was in prison for twenty years and maintained his innocence. Nine witnesses confessed twenty years ago that he killed a police officer and seven of the nine have since recanted their initial confession due to reasons that they were coerced by police and some stated that they were scared of the police.
I’m confused. Initially, I can't blame the Georgia courts. You are tried by your PEERS. Initially, I blame the jurors, who should have come out sooner. Who knew right from wrong. They knew his life, his blood rested in their hands. They were in the position to decide his fate.
First of all, I thought you had to be found guilty BEYOND a reasonable doubt. Meaning you as a juror have to be one hundred plus percent certain that the person accused of committing said crime is in fact guilty "beyond any reasonable doubt" possible. There cannot be a fraction of doubt in your head that he/she may be innocent. Secondly, I thought that there had to be substantial evidence to meet some standard of proof for you to even receive the death penalty? I guess not! Our criminal justice system is severely and systematically flawed.
Now, I have issues with the higher courts, because after the Pope, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and a host of others have said, WAIT! This is an injustice! They followed through with the execution anyway. I feel the courts should have reconsidered his case, reconsidered the death penalty and had him serve life in prison, especially if there are no hard facts and there is no hardcore evidence to support a death penalty verdict and now you have 7 wishy-washy witnesses recanting their initial statements.
I was actually a supporter of the Death Penalty until this very moment. I wrote this for a paper once, “I consider myself a feminist and Feminist Virtue Ethics are based on care and in some acts retribution could be enough if the person can come to understand the crime they committed and the rights and wrongs of moral acts. These people can be rehabilitated enough to function in society without a relapse or can just spend the rest of their lives in prison. I am not a vengeful person, however, when I think about some things that happen around us (heinous, gruesome, sick crimes) I sometimes can’t help but think that such people are here just taking up space, they are sick and cannot be rehabilitated and in such instances, the death penalty should apply."
Please know that I am not advocating for Davis or saying he was innocent. Only he knows the truth. I’m merely asking, did we really have enough proof, substantial evidence or just cause as a collective whole, to take A life??? Think about it...
God Bless.
~A2
God Bless.
~A2
