A
pair of provocatively related news articles aired today. The first concerns a lawsuit filed by the
daughter of a deceased California prison inmate, Hugo Pinell, incarcerated for
the past 46 years, who was stabbed to death by another prisoner. Pinell, a convicted killer, was one of the
San Quentin 6 who participated in slitting the throats of San Quentin prison
guards during a failed jailbreak attempt in 1971. His daughter claims he should not have been
permitted to associate with the general inmate population, but rather housed permanently
in protective custody.
The
other article reports on a ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
William Ryan, denying a request for parole of Leslie Van Houten, one of Charles
Manson’s followers. In 1978, Van Houten
was convicted of first degree murder, in that for no particular reason, she put
a pillowcase over the head of housewife Rosemary LaBianaca, wrapped a lamp cord
around her neck and stabbed her 16 times.
As she later boasted, “stabbing was fun.” She’s been in prison for nearly 47 years.
This
then brings us to the subject of capital punishment, and the perennial
question: “What purpose is served by housing incorrigible felons for a lifetime
when their quick and unpretentious executions would eliminate any future
miseries they may cause? I’ve heard the
arguments, pro and con, which long since passed the realm of rationality: Every life is precious vs. monsters have no place on earth; Everyone is redeemable vs. they’ll never change. Even biblical enthusiasts are firmly embedded
on both sides of the question. You may
endorse Exodus 21: 23 “And if any
mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life” . . . unless you prefer
Exodus 20:13 “Thou shalt not kill.”
The
law works in strange and mysterious ways.
Although California statute authorizes capital punishment for first
degree murder, it’s so infrequently carried out as to be essentially
meaningless. As a one-time supporter of
capital punishment, I cannot imagine who is benefited when those so sentenced
remain on death row indefinitely, while their multiple appeals are heard and
reheard over and over—except, of course, members of the bar who derive a living
by processing these endless appeals.
It’s for this reason I now advocate an end to the death penalty. Instead, those persons convicted of heinous
crimes should be imprisoned and fully integrated into the general inmate
population. Only in this way will they
most likely receive the punishment they so rightly deserve.
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