Death Penalty Protest

On Saturday, Robin, Mary, and I decided to go to the Death Penalty Protest. Robin works for GRACE- Gulf Region Advocacy Center. Her organization helps represent people on Death Row. We decided to go to the protest to learn more about the Death Penalty and support Robin and her work.

There are currently 3,500 men and women on Death Row. In Texas, one of the states with the highest rate of executions, has 356 people currently on Death Row; many of those people are innocent. Some people on Death Row were sentenced under the Law of Parties. This basically means if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you could be sentenced. One of the speakers at the march was a former Death Row inmate. He worked as a janitor in a high school. He was cleaning the school in the evening when he stumbled upon the murder of a girl. When the police came the janitor was taken to prison, unjustly tried, and put on Death Row for simply being at the scene of a crime he did not commit. The majority of people on Death Row are poor and cannot afford proper representation. Robin’s organization tries to help these people. We also learned that the average Death Penalty case costs $1 million to $3 million, while housing an inmate for life only costs about $500,000. So the Death Penalty wastes tax payer money.

There are also moral reasons why the Death Penalty should be abolished. It’s a way of playing God and deciding who lives and who dies. It’s not our decision as humans to condemn and punish others. I highly recommend reading/watching “Dead Man Walking.” You can also visit www.nodeathpenalty.org for more information.

Paz,
Stephanie