Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 21 after being denied a stay by the US Supreme Court. People from as far away as Paris, France, gathered together in protest of his sentence in the days leading up to his execution. | Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Troy Davis was recently executed despite the fact that many of the eyewitnesses who testified against him at trial later admitted that they hadn’t seen Davis murder the police officer he was convicted of killing, and others admitted they had been bribed and coerced by law enforcement into testifying against Davis.
Although most of the evidence suggested Davis was innocent, he was still murdered by the state of Georgia.
Davis’ execution is the result of racism. Studies show that African-American men are at an increased risk of receiving the death penalty for committing the same crimes when compared to white men.
We may not be lynching black men anymore, but we are still murdering them for crimes they have not committed.
The execution of Davis brought about a lot of disappointment and disgust in the American judicial system.
But there is still hope. It is impossible to bring Davis back from the dead, but we can all honor his death by pressuring our legislators to get rid of the death penalty.
The death penalty is a hypocritical and barbaric practice, and an outdated means of punishment. There is no humane way to take away a human life. The word humane directly contradicts the act.
Moreover, murder implies intent, which is in itself inhumane.
Furthermore, what sense does it make to murder someone for murdering someone else?
Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer in modern non-violent activism, once said, “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind,” and if we continue on this backwards path, a blind world this will be.
Apparently death penalty proponents believe that justice is being served, and that it is morally right to execute these people because they are bad people.
However, this country was founded on Christian moral law. It is ironic that many of the states that are dominated by religious conservatives still practice this cruel and unusual punishment — your state and Georgia included.
These same conservatives argue against abortion because of biblical prohibitions, yet they don’t apply this argument across the board. It seems as though these Christian proponents of the death penalty have forgotten that the Ten Commandments forbids them from killing.
Proponents of the death penalty need to ask themselves a few questions:
What makes the judge that approves this punishment any better than the criminal himself?
Why isn’t the person who administers the injection committing the same crime the criminal committed?
What makes him less guilty, and does having the law back you up prevent you from being a murderer?
Lindsay Gary is a senior history major and may be reached at [email protected].
Q: What makes the judge that approves this punishment any better than the criminal himself?
A: He didn't commit a crime. I'm sure someone will take some abstract definition of 'crime' so I will define it for you. The legal definition of crime is a violation of a law in which there is injury to the public or a member of the public. Let's not take abstract, rhetorical visions of the word. That only detracts from the discussion.
Q: Why isn’t the person who administers the injection committing the same crime the criminal committed?
A: Judging by your next question, you assume one will say that it is because the law backs them. I ask you a question then. 'Is a policeman guilty or murder for killing a murderer? People love to twist the debate and use semantics to change the argument.
Q:What makes him less guilty, and does having the law back you up prevent you from being a murderer?
A: Well, the 'him' in your sentence has no antecedent so I'll just ignore that. No it doesn't but the government's job is to protect it's law-abiding citizens. When you break the law, you give up many rights and freedoms that we enjoy. If you endanger the lives of the populace you deserve to be put behind bars. If you murder an innocent person, you deserve to die. We cannot put policemen's lives at risk for the human rights of a murderer.
Does anyone else find it odd that these people retracted their statements and came out in favor of this man? Eyewitnesses are fools. Any lawyer with half a brain can make one believe they have seen something they haven't or vice versa.
This article could have been written by a freshman in high school who read a couple of glorified, one-sided online articles that told him/her how to think instead of doing actual research and I wouldn't be surprised.
Thank you Mary Pat for giving well thought out answers to just plain moronic questions (Really?? "Why isn’t the person who administers the injection committing the same crime the criminal committed?"… Because the criminal who committed murder did so most likely with intent and malice. Some even do so for enjoyment.) that I think the author believes were rhetorical
Seriously how does something this biased with absolutely no substance get published? Do they have a staff? I'm against the death penalty and I'm still offended.
Is it me, or did anyone else notice the fact that Davis was on his 2rd stay of execution and applying for a 3rd? And where were these retracting witnesses years back? Why such recent retractions? According to one retractor, her car windows were too tinted to see clearly who shot the cop. Somehow, miraculously, through these same tinted car windows she could identify the victim as a cop but not his shooter. Then she said she ducked down under her dashboard, afraid.; couldn't see a thing. Yes, try that sometime. VERY easy. But somehow –???– she knew a COP was shot. Curious periscopic ability considering she was allegedly under a dashboard of a car with tinted windows. Somehow this "true" account by the retracting eyewitness sounds bogus. And I suspect she is not alone. Of course, there is always the murderous supreme court argument ; they like killing folks who are scapegoated as cop killers because they can. Really? That's suppose to actually work among thinking people?
I'm wondering that if Lindsay Gary had a young daughter, sister, or niece, that was brutally raped and murdered by a death row inmate. Would she be in the mood to forgive … and let him live?
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I agree. Even though I didn’t even read this article. I just read the top little picture and caption. I am doing a Death Penalty report and this is no help to me. Goodbye and have a nice morning, Afternoon, Evening, or night.