Life or Death

Life or Death for Tookie Williams? What do you think? For those of you who are not up on this story, he is one of the men who started the "crips" gang in LA. He has been convicted of killing four people, but there were no eye witnesses to any of his crimes, only the testimony of other gang members who were also at the scene. Since being in prison, Tookie says he has changed...He has learned empathy and has remorse for his behavior. He has written books targeted to keep kids from joining gangs and has spoken, via phone, to many groups about gangs. SO, should he be put to death on 12/13/05?

I have worked with a group of about 12 men in a central Utah prison for the past 4-5 years. All of these men are incarcerated for murder, and many of them are in on a life sentence. I think the one thing I have learned from them is the idea of judging someone for one moment in time in their life. I don't know a lot about Tookie, he obviously had years of crime behind him prior to his incarceration....But for many of the men I work with, their crime was one of passion...An out of control moment they will pay for with the rest of their lives. This idea of punishing someone for one moment in time in their life makes me think.... Are their times in my life when I have acted or done things I am ashamed of??? Yes..... Would I want the label of that time and those actions to define me for the rest of my life? NO.... So, do we as a society allow people to change? To grow? If not, what is the point????
If you want to get involved in this issue more check out www.savetookie.org
For more information an article from the SL Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3277156