This week we celebrated the 83rd anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King’s vision has always been about more than racial equality; he stood for justice, reverence for human life, and for public policy that serves the citizenry. While we celebrate his life and legacy, I can’t help but remember his tragic death, and am reminded that the death penalty in Connecticut fails to live up to all the values he strove for.
There can no longer be any doubt that the death penalty in Connecticut does not live up to our goal of racial equality. This is perhaps most frighteningly evident when one looks at the statistics on the race of homicide victims in capital cases. While African Americans are disproportionately the victims of homicide, the death penalty is usually sought when the victim of a crime is white. A recent study that thoroughly examined every single murder case in Connecticut and their progression to sentencing showed that the death penalty is worse than random, it is racially and geographically skewed.
The pages of this blog are filled with example after example of other ways the death penalty system fails to create justice for those of us left behind. See Victoria’s piece “We All Matter” about the pain that comes when a few capital cases are highlighted while the deaths of inner city youth are all but ignored, or Walt’s piece about “The Costs of Capital Punishment” being offensive when so many victims’ needs are unmet and services unfunded. All of these things are directly hurtful to all murder victim family members.
It seems to me that the death penalty in Connecticut is an especial injustice to us, the families of murder victims.
For many of us, the death penalty fails to live up to Dr. King’s vision of unwavering reverence for human life. If Connecticut truly believes that it is acceptable to kill in our names, the State is effectively telling us that there are circumstances under which it is acceptable to take a human life. I say that there are no circumstances under which it was acceptable to take my mother’s life from her. I reject the notion that there are any circumstances which make it acceptable to take any human life.
We are further hurt by the way the death penalty traps us in a cycle of waiting for a punishment that may never come, and certainly won’t come quickly enough. We deserve retribution from those who took away our loved-ones. We also deserve the opportunity to move forward with our lives. Life imprisonment without the possibility of release allows us both of these things. The decades-long wait for the execution of a death sentences denies us our right to see the offenders punishment go in effect, and we’re left stalled in our anger. Life imprisonment begins immediately and we have the freedom to move on.
The violence in which we live is frightening, especially to those of us who have lost a loved-one to violence. We fear what Dr. King called ‘the downward spiral’ of violence. After the murder of a loved one, we are left with grief, as with any death, but also with the very violence that stole our loved-one. Instead of helping us, and indeed all of the citizens of Connecticut, by working to reduce violence and support victims, we are falsely promised safety and “closure” with the death penalty.
Dr. King’s legacy, and our own most deeply-held considerations are clearly reflected in the words of his late wife when she said: “As one whose husband and mother-in-law have both died the victims of murder assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by legalized murder.” In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, and to promote the welfare of all of the citizens of Connecticut we must abolish the death penalty.
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