As you all may be very aware of the fact that Stanley a.k.a "Tookie" Williams was one of the early leaders and founders of the street gang called, the Crips. The Crips originated in a South Central neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Tookie was convicted on three counts of murder in 1979, which he maintained his innocence during his incarceration. While he was serving his sentence he co-wrote children's books and made his best efforts to educate the youth about the dangers of being involved with gangs and did everything he could to stop them from living a very dangerous lifestyle. Thousands of people became involved by signing online petitions in their efforts to convince Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant Mr. Williams clemency based on his tireless work on being an anti-gang activist and he has been redeemed for his past wrong doings. Despite all of the efforts from celebrities, politicians, Nobel laureates, and Williams' attorney, Governor Schwarzenegger denied Tookie's clemency in early November 2005. One month later of that same year, Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed by lethal injection.
Punishment and Responsibility means that when a person does something that is against the law such as stealing someones car or hitting someone with their own car by accident or on purpose, then leave the scene of the crime. That person would be charged with a hit and run and leaving the scene of an accident, he or she would be severely punished for what they did. Now in the case of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, he was convicted in 1979 on three counts of murder, in which he believed he was innocent of those crimes. Even though he was part of the Crips street gang, was there any evidence indicating that he was involved in the deaths of three people? Governor Schwarzenegger should have granted clemency for Mr. Williams based on his tireless work to prevent young people from joining gangs and writing children's books about doing something productive in their lives, instead of wasting their time and energy on something that is non-productive.
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For you argument for the case of Stanley Tookie Williams, I don't even know waht your points are in this case. I think waht the case told us was that whether a offender should have a chance of clemency as he made his great efforts to benefit to the society in the jail, not what you said above like that. From my point of view, even though a offender did a good things for others, it is not necessary to give him clemency because he did a crime, he has to pay for what he did. If not, it is unfair for the dead and for the family.
ReplyDeleteI was just trying to say that he should have received clemency from Gov. Schwarzengger because he did everything he could to educate the youth about the dangers of being involved in a gang and the consequences behind it. If Mr. Williams were still alive today, he would have been used as an example of being saved from Death Row, based on the good things he contributed during his time in prison.
ReplyDeleteJessica and Boyao, you are taking two very different stands on this case: Jessica, you are correct on utilitarian grounds, namely that no good consequeces come out of executing Williams, and Boyao, you seem to be a retributivist who claims that Williams deserve punishment for his crime, regardless of what he did later. This is precisely the controversy here.
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