This segment originally aired in November of 2007.  I am a big opponent of the death penalty in general.  It's unfairly applied with minorities disproportionately receiving it, studies show it offers no deterrent to other crimes and the thought of even one innocent person executed wrongly makes it just horrifying to consider.  We are the only Western country that still has the death penalty and the fact that we stand with countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and China in executing prisoners should not be a point of pride.  We at one time at least held to the standard of not executing the mentally ill or retarded, but even that no longer holds as James Clark of Texas or Greg Thompson above show. 

If you are interested in working towards the abolishment of the death penalty, contact Amnesty International for information on what you can do.

Last week I linked to an op-ed by Jon Voight with the caveat that I generally don't really care about the opinions of celebrities.  Today, I want you to meet one of the few exceptions to my rule: Mike Farrell.  I had the honor of meeting Mike at a death penalty protest several years ago and he truly does walk the walk of his values and there's no way to do anything but respect him for that and for the dignity he brings to activism and this important topic.  He and his friend Don McCartin contributed this op-ed, originally in the LA Daily News, but here for you from Truthdig: 

We are an unlikely pair-not "The Odd Couple," but close. Forty-five years ago, one was a successful lawyer practicing in Orange County, the other an aspiring actor living there because his new wife taught at Laguna Beach High School.

The lawyer had lawsuits to handle, papers to be filed, people to be found, summonses and subpoenas to be served.

The actor, unable to count on work in show business, ran an attorney service that took care of the lawyer's business.

Both former Marines, we thus knew each other, if casually, for years.

Two decades later, the lawyer, then a judge of the Superior Court, had sentenced more men to death than any other in his jurisdiction. He was known as "the hanging judge of Orange County."

The actor had gotten lucky, becoming a member of the cast of "M*A*S*H," one of the nation's most beloved TV shows, and was an ardent and outspoken opponent of the death penalty.

Today, while coming at it from vastly different perspectives, the now-retired "hanging judge" and the actor, who chairs Death Penalty Focus, find themselves working together again, this time to close California's death chamber.

Continue reading »

Here's Obama's response to the Supreme Court decision which struck down the death penalty for the rape of a child.

Democrat Barack Obama says he disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision outlawing executions of people convicted of raping a child.

Obama told reporters Wednesday that he thinks the rape of a child, ages six or eight, is a heinous crime. He said if a state makes a decision, then the death penalty is potentially applicable.

Digby says:

I get why he said it. Everybody's petrified of being "gotcha'd" like Dukakis on the rape question. But this one isn't hard. All he had to say was that as a father he would certainly want to kill anyone who did such a heinous thing with his bare hands, but as a public servant and legal scholar he knows that the death penalty should be reserved for people who kill...read on

It seems to me that he's running much farther to the right then he has to. I know he doesn't want to be portrayed as "soft on crime," but he could have approached it in any number of ways other than disagreeing with a wingnut Supreme Court that voted against this.

Lindsey Bernstein says:

If we're going to have a death penalty, and if the death penalty is reserved for the most heinous crimes, then rape should be punishable by death. Does Obama think that the rapists who sodomized prisoners at Abu Ghraib with chemical lights should be put to death? Given his views on child rape, I should hope so. Consistency requires him to call for the executions of the American soldiers who committed these crimes. If he's not serious about putting all rapists to death, he is trivializing rape by calling for the death penalty only for those who rape children.

If you're going to support the death penalty for child rape alone, you need to explain why child rapes are so morally special compared to the rapes of adult human beings.

The only morally consistent "law and order" position for Obama would be to assert that rape should be punishable by death, across the board...read on