time for failed vegetarian soap box rant!!!!

i was chatting with stacy last night. we agree on most social/political issues, but last night we debated the death penalty. it was really interesting and got me to thinking why i am against it. so i did some research.

then this morning i read the account of the execution of tookie smith (former crips leader on death row for murder.) the headline read "no quick death for tookie smith" and i winced. apparently it took the prison staff 20 minutes of poking and prodding to insert the needle in his vein. according to amnesty international, the US has the highest rate of botched execution in the world. anyone remember the FL executions where 2 guys in the electric chair had flames shot out of the tops of their heads (because prison staff set up the chair improperly.)

i know these people on death row have done horrible things, destroyed lives. they need to be locked up in tiny cells with nothing except a toliet and a blank wall. but killing people is not something any government should be doing. why? because 7% of folks on death row have been found innocent. because the state shouldn't be seeking vengence and murdering people. because it's cheaper for someone to spend their life on death row then it is to execute them (studies show the money spent on death row appeals costs the government much more then a lifetime of solitary confinement.) because our judicial system is flawed and inherantly racist. studies show people end up on death row not because of their own race, but the race of the victim. blacks killing whites make up the highest numbers on death row, and it's disproportionate to the number the occur in society.)

most democratic countries have abolished the death penalty. canada, austrailia, almost all of europe. only the US and japan still use captial punishment. oh yeah, the term "capitol" is derived from the latin word for head. capitol punishment translates as decapitating.

but we don't decapitate any more. too messy. now we build gas chambers, electric chairs, or use injection, firing squad or hanging. does it make anyone uncomfortable thinking about our government allowing this? and how did we decide on these 5 options? why not bring the "blood eagle" back?

per wikipedia: "The Blood Eagle was reportedly a method of torture and execution that is sometimes mentioned in old Icelandic Viking sagas. It was performed by cutting the ribs of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out. Salt was reportedly sprinkled in the wounds."

what are the benefits of the death penalty? studies vary on whether it actually deters crime. it's more costly then life in prison. and i just don't think a judge or jury should be given the power (by the state) to murder people.

maybe i feel this way because i don't believe in vengence. you know my "nobody is allowed to hit anybody ever" rule? that includes not hitting some one just because they hit you first. besides true self defense, no hitting. and besides protecting yourself or someone else, no killing.