A bitter fight is raging in California between liberals and conservatives (what else is new). The fight pits proponents of the death penalty against those who oppose it. Stanley Tookie Williams is a convicted murderer and founder of the bloody street gang, the Crips. Williams was convicted of four murders and is suspected in several others. For his crimes, Williams was sentenced to death in California. Having exhausted all appeals, Williams is scheduled to die on December 13.

As his execution has drawn near, the case has come under increasing scrutiny with a growing chorus of liberal activists calling on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant Williams clemency. The Phalanx has long held that the death penalty is no deterrent, it is used sparingly, selectively and is rarely carried out. Even if a person has no moral objections to the use of the death penalty, how can someone view this punishment as a deterrent when it takes years, if not decades, to be carried out? Williams, for example, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1979. This is no deterrent, meanwhile Williams enjoys prison life, associating with former gang members, regular exercise, entertainment and three square meals a day. Indeed, some murderers have a better life than the poor whose only crime is laziness.

Throughout 2005, leftists have argued Williams has reformed and is therefore entitled to clemency. They argue he has written children’s books and renounces gang violence. In other words, the lives of four people can be excused by writing a couple books, I suppose one could argue that because Hitler was an author he was excused for the murder of millions? While we at the Phalanx may not feel the death penalty offers any measure of deterrence we are equally opposed to any special treatment for Tookie Williams because of any activities he has been engaged in while in prison. Ultimately, Governor Schwarzenegger will have the final say at a clemency hearing scheduled for December 8.
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