Reply #37: A stupid waste

[Sapphire Blue]

A stupid waste
It's foolish to execute a man who represents a real opportunity to break the cycle of gang violence.

By J.T. Allen, authored the screenplay for "Redemption," starring Jamie Foxx and Lynn Whitfield.

(excerpt)

I interviewed Stan to understand him as a character. In doing so, I came to see him as a man, which is why I count myself among those who believe that his prison conversion was real. I also believe, as Father Greg Boyle, director of Homeboy Industries, has said, that Stan is "not the person he was 27 years ago, and if he is granted clemency, his impact on kids, who plan their funerals and not their futures, will continue." This is more important than most people from privileged backgrounds seem to understand — more important than I understood going into the project.

L.A. County prosecutors, among others, say "Williams deserves to die for his crimes and for helping start a gang that has claimed thousands of lives over the years." Although there is more than one account of the Crips' genesis, Stan himself says he was a co-founder of the gang, and no one, least of all him, denies that this was a bad thing.

But he's on death row because a jury convicted him of four murders, period. Justice needs to be specific. If the prosecutors want him killed for starting the Crips, they need to bring charges, go to trial and get a conviction. The truth is, a new type of street gang was emerging in Los Angeles' poor neighborhoods in the early 1970s, and a Crips-like cancer, with its culture of retaliation and blood vengeance, would have spread with or without Stan Williams.

<snip>

But the state will also be killing a man who, guilty or innocent, is now doing far more good than harm. Critics say that all this do-gooding is just a way for Stan to save his skin. My experience with the guy says no, he really does want to spare mothers and brothers the agony faced by the Owenses and Yangs.

This prisoner offers California a rare resource with which to interrupt the cycle that produces crop after crop of killer Crips. To squander that opportunity in an effort to eliminate one former Crip — who may be innocent of the murders for which he was convicted — would be plain stupid.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-redeem4dec04,0,1001830.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary