My cousin, who I love dearly, and who is also the author of a previous post on this blog (Viewpoint on the Death Penalty) has been trying for years to convince me of the injustice of the death penalty. To say that he is an adamant opponent of the death penalty would be an understatement. His reasons for opposing capital punishment are numerous, but topping his list are these: the possibility of a wrongful execution of innocent people, racial bias, and taking the life of another person under any circumstance is morally wrong. The pending execution of Troy Davis has renewed our debate.
I was neutral on the death penalty issue until sometime during the 1980’s when six year old Adam Walsh was murdered and decapitated. Until then, the most horrific crime I had ever heard of, I learned about as a child. The story – told and retold by my parents and numerous adults in my extended family – detailed the torture and murder of Emmett Till in 1955. Till, a 14 year old black boy, while visiting Money, Mississippi from Chicago, allegedly “disrespected” a white woman. For his action during that pre-civil rights era, Till was severely beaten, had an eye gouged out, was shot, and then