Times Commentary

Out of Sight, Out of Mind:
Racist Punishment Wrongfully Endures

SAN QUENTIN -- The California state prison here is a sprawling complex clearly visible from the San Rafael Bridge, but the lives of those inside the penitentiary, and the execution of its death row inmates, are absent from the public's consciousness.

A May 2002 Gallup poll found that 52 percent of Americans supported the death penalty when given a choice between life imprisonment and capital punishment of murderers. Interestingly, of the 1,012 adults questioned, 53 percent thought that the death penalty was being applied fairly, but one wonders how the public reached this opinion.

A startling look at the numbers behind those inmates executed reveals a system that is racist and class-biased. Over 81 percent of death sentences involve white victims, reports the American Civil Liberties Union and the Death Penalty Information Center. About 174 African Americans have been executed for killing a white person, while only 12 whites have been executed for killing a black person, the NAACP's Death Row USA study found.

While 455 whites have been executed compared to 278 African Americans since 1977 (when the Supreme Court reversed its ban on capital punishment) black men are increasingly caught up in an inherently biased legal system.

"The biggest misunderstanding is character and profile of who's on death row," said Brian Roberts, a capital defense attorney with the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "Public folklore is that people on death row are there for heinous crimes, like serial killers and for rape and molestation of a child."

Most of the men on death row, however, are there for "poor people's crimes," Roberts notes, and those poor people tend to be men of color who cannot afford private defense attorneys and whose public defenders or court appointed lawyers are ill equipped to try capital defense cases.

Wwith the exception of the most violent death row inmates being led in and out of the prison's three-story adjustment center, San Quentin's main population, the prisoners serving life sentences, are there on three-strikes violations, often the result of drug charges and parole violations.

The U.S. Supreme Court should support a moratorium. Supporters of capital punishment cannot say with full confidence that inmates received their sentences under a fair and just legal system. The American public and more importantly, Congressional representatives should call for a fair, impartial study of today's prison system. This would only be practical considering the rapid expansion of detention facilities across the country.

The California Department of Corrections estimates that by 2004 the inmate population will exceed the maximum operating prison capacity of 177,197. So far, $5.27 billion has been spent to complete the construction of 113,904 new beds in anticipation.

A review is especially needed in California because of the three strikes law, which is a large cause of the expansion. As California Department of Corrections officer John Gladson noted during a tour of San Quentin, this state paves the way for others when it comes to prison laws.

Capital punishment is a moral issue, and a right given to man by God. A victim's family has, according to Islamic principals, the right to retributive punishment and is entitled to financial compensation from the murderer, who has to be found guilty by a fair, judicial body. The Qur'an, like the Bible, gives humans the right to carry out capital punishment, but in many more instances, it urges forgiveness. There is much to be concerned about when a Superior Court judge hands down an order based on his or her review of a case tried in a flawed legal system. This is not justice, and no religious ruling can contradict reasons to defer execution.

Murder violates a society's right to peace and harmony. Islam's body of lawis designed to maintain that balance in society. The emphasis in Islam is not the punishment itself but the reminder to those witnessing the punishment. Family members, often invited by public officials, can watch an execution by lethal injection, San Quentin officer Vernell Crittendon said. Yet, the punishment can only be a deterrent if watched by the entire society, according to Islamic principals.

Until the system is fair, it is better to leave life and death in the hands of God.