Death Penalty

The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment ... and I'm not talking, in this case, about the punishment of the prisoner, I'm talking about the punishment of the victim's family.  For 20 years, the family of Mary Bounds has waited for an execution they have been promised will make things better.  Last night, they gathered in Parchman, Mississippi, to witness that execution. Yet, 18 minutes before the killing of Earl Wesley Berry was to occur, the US Supreme Court called it off, staying the execution for the same reason all the other executions have been stayed since they agreed to hear Baze v. Rees and consider the constitutionality of lethal injection. 

Why did the Court wait until the last minute to issue a short 88-word ruling?  We may never know the answer to that question ...

"Who are you to do this to us?" demanded Charles Bounds, Mary Bounds' husband, according to an AP story in today's Sun Herald.  Indeed, who are we to do this to victims' families, to promise them an execution that may never happen and, if it does, will not provide the promised "closure"? 

Another family member, Jena Watson, Mary Bounds' daughter, told the AP that she didn't expect "closure"; she was just looking forward to finally being free of the criminal justice system:  "An execution simply means that we do not have to deal with the justice system any longer."  And if the way the justice system treated them last night is any indication, her sentiments can hardly be surprising ...

The anguish on display last night in Parchman points to why we believe the death penalty is the wrong solution for victims' families.  After all, had Earl Wesley Berry been sentenced to life, the family would have been free of the criminal justice system 20 years ago, and nobody would have been forced to endure last night's ugly charade. 

Of course, the death penalty hurts everyone it touches. Not just victims' families, but, obviously, the family of the condemned, as well as the executioners themselves, prison guards and prison wardens.  In "Interview with an Executioner", Don Cabana, Parchman Penetentiary Superintendent, speaks at length about how the death penalty affects the people who actually have to carry it out.  Download the video here ...

Brian - PADP