| Vednesday, January 31.2001
Opi NION
THE BATTALION
id to qualif,
matter oF
liFe and death
NTED
ptate executions
inhumane, unjust
nevery con
ceivable way,
the death
enalty is the
upreme sanc-
ion against con-
icted criminals.
3y carrying out a
leath sentence
YCLE
me. 28k
job. $42
ng lema
I, regisrej;
MES
|)n an individual, the legal establish-
lent places them beyond reprieve
there can be no appeal from the,
rave. It is a course of action that
lemands the utmost caution in its
ssignment and restraint in its use.
Yet, in case after case, it is be-
oming glaringly apparent that the
eath penalty is applied both un-
venly and unjustly in this nation. As
upreme Court Justice Harry Black-
lun said in 1994, “Twenty years
|iave passed since this court declared
hat the death penalty must be im-
)sed fairly, and with reasonable
onsistency, or not at all, and despite
he effort of the states and courts to
levise legal formulas and procedural
ules to meet this daunting chal
lenge, the death penalty remains
fraught with arbitrariness, discrimi-
4Mor!&S i ation, caprice and mistake.”
Americans, in their zeal to apply
he death penalty, are ignoring the
esponsibilities such a power entails.
There can be no question that the
najority of Americans favor some
brm of capital punishment. Over
he past four decades, Americans
have consistently supported the
, w1# Irjeath penalty by a 2-1 margin in
opinion polls. Americans want a
^ bold punishment to fit the most hor-
TSF"' Title of crimes. It appears they want
3 97 it so badly that they are willing to
forsake the moral high ground that
legitimizes their legal system.
Proponents of the death penalty
tTapa« Jprgue that some crimes are so horri-
i° +u«* on 1 y the execution of crimi-
—nals can express society’s disap-
ca»n Ibroval of their actions. In many
SSS^mases, the same form of retribution-
Hbriented thinking served as the mo
tive for the criminal. By pursuing
)ld Testament-style eye-for-an-eye
justice, Americans are not improv
ing society; they are only lowering it
Bo the level of its criminal element.
Despite attempts to declare state
Executions “humane,” the fact re-
inains that purposeful killing is the
least humane action of all. Death
icnalty supporters often say that the
riminals die more peacefully than
:ES
, 6pm-8p<i'! b
inside
.owes!
846-611 ;
EL
uxuiytwfj
Fire, RioC«
^ 846-8
iakTSp^j
J. Most , "‘
139-4723.
USA SF'
id and Flof 5
id condos, ^
5-2026.
ID THE ^
springs-
(SON PEG-
.oss
oroven
^Tcw 1 !
Z/m
lin/SM**
their victims. An alarming number
of cases show that state executions
are anything but humane.
In 1983, the state of Alabama ex
ecuted John Evans. After the first
jolt of electricity was applied,
flames burst from his head, catch
ing the execution hood on fire.
When his charred body cooled
enough to allow doctors to inspect
it, he was found to still be alive. Af
ter 14 minutes and three sessions of
electrical shock, Evans finally died.
Also in 1983, Mississippi inmate
Jimmy Lee Gray was executed in a
gas chamber. The job was botched
so badly by the executioner, who
was later found to be drunk at the
time, that the inmate suffered for
more than eight minutes. Gray died
banging his head against a steel
pole in the chamber while a re- ,7^:
porter from the Associated Press
counted his moans.
In a 1992 Arizona execution,
convict Donald Harding spasmed
for nearly seven minutes while poi
son tablets slowly worked through
his system. Witnesses reported that , IO m
his death was incredibly violent, his
body turning from red to purple be- ° n
fore he finally died. One television
journalist noted, “Obviously, this
man was suffering. We put animals
to death more humanely.”
The argument that the death
penalty deters crime is refuted by a
number of studies. The New York
Times, in a report published in Sep
tember, showed that 10 of the 12
states without the death penalty had
homicide rates below the national
average.
“It is difficult to make the case
for any deterrent effect from these
numbers,” said Steven Messner, a
criminologist at the State University
of New York-Albany.
Furthermore, the death penalty
continues to be applied unevenly in
terms of race. Even though half of
all homicide victims in America are
African-Americans, 84 percent of
death-row sentences have been
handed out for crimes against white
victims.
According to a study done by the
Death Penalty Information Center,
minorities make up 89 percent of the
death-row population and African-
Americans have accounted for 90
percent of all executions in rape cas
es since 1930. Despite the show of
equality in the courts, it is clear that a
inipl £te
ages fr° c
19!
)75 .1
,-TRl
Mail Call
Bryan High School
size an asset to
the community
Regarding Eric Dickens’ re
cent opinion piece about
Bryan High School (BHS), it is
apparent that he spent little,
if any, time visiting the school
or talking with students,
teachers or administrators. It
is too bad that he chose to
form his opinions primarily
from a few prior newspaper
articles.
The school is large but not
crowded. The student-teacher
ratio is better than average. If
simply being big is bad, Mr.
Dickens needs to transfer
from Texas A&M University.
I have had two children
graduate from BHS, receiving
a superb education. I have
spent many hours at the cam
pus, observing and inquiring.
My opinions are based on
.first-hand information.
No mention was made in
the article about the very suc
cessful off-campus medical
and technology academies,
where hundreds of BHS stu
dents can spend half the*
school day in a focused, small-
campus environment. Or about
the extensive electives, ad
vanced-placement course pro
gram and course scheduling
flexibility that would be far
more difficult to provide with
smaller high schools.
Simply put, BHS has had
some recent discipline prob
lems no different than most
other high schools, large or
small.
The problems are very man
ageable, and great progress
has already been made.
After nearly 11 years of ser
vice on the Bryan School
Board and a concerted effort
to learn all I can about optimiz
ing school facilities, I have
concluded that a large high
school offers unique and won
derful opportunities within the
confines of ever-tightening
budgets.
For all their perceived ad
vantages, operating multiple
small high schools would
siphon away funds from
teacher salaries and create
the same “good school/bad
school” divisiveness that vir
tually every other community
with multiple high schools suf
fers from.
BHS is the only institution
that unites the entire Bryan
community. It is already a great
school. Size alone will certainly
not prevent it from being even
better.
C. David Stasny
BISD Board of Trustees
Class of ’74
murder committed by a white citizen
is deemed less criminal than one
committed by a black one.
From 1976 to 2000, Texas led the
nation with 239 executions. So far
this year, Oklahoma has executed
six criminals, putting it on pace to
nearly double the grim single-year
record of 40 set by Texas in 2000.
It does not matter if two-thirds of
Americans support capital punish
ment. An unjust system that targets
specific portions of the population
for compulsory death, no matter how
much support it enjoys, is wrong.
If America wants the power to
execute its criminals, it should exer
cise it responsibly, fairly and with
the moderation such a final solution
requires.
Nicholas Roznovsky is a senior
political science major.
Death penalty is
only real option
A lthough
Texas Gov.
Rick Perry
has been a
strong advocate
of the death
penalty, he re
cently asked
Texas state leg
islators to consider the option of
life imprisonment without parole
for habitual criminals.
Life imprisonment without parole
does not exist in Texas, and the only
option for habitual criminals is the
death penalty. If Texas replaced
death sentences with life imprison
ment, it would only waste money
and ’ecrease the deterrent effects
that capital punishment has.
Death penalty advocates have
historically argued it is less costly
to sentence a criminal to death
than life imprisonment, but many
death penalty opponents claim that
America cannot put a price on hu
man life.
According to the U.S. Vital Sta
tistics Abstract, the cost of life
without parole for one individual
for a minimum of 50 years is
$3.01 million, and the cost for
capital punishment of one individ
ual is $1.88 million.
Keeping a criminal in prison for
life without parole costs almost
twice as much as putting that indi
vidual to death. This may sound
cruel, but most criminals sen
tenced to life imprisonment with
out parole have been career crimi
nals with violent offenses, such as
homicide and rape.
If death sentences are replaced
with life imprisonment without pa
role, the cost of keeping criminals
in prison will increase dramatically.
Life imprisonment does not nec
essarily deter criminals from com
mitting another offense. On the oth
er hand, those executed cannot
murder again. Of the roughly
52,000 state prison inmates serving
time for murder in 1984, an estimat
ed 810 had previously been convict
ed of murder. These 810 people had
killed 821 persons after their previ
ous murder convictions.
Executing each of these in
mates the first time would have
saved 821 lives. The U.S. Depart
ment of Justice estimates that con
victed criminals free on parole and
probation commit at least 84,800
violent crimes every year, includ
ing 13,200 murders. Ironically, the
death penalty saves lives. ■
If the Texas Legislature agrees
with Perry and eventually the death
penalty is not the only punishment
for habitual criminals in Texas, then
prisoners who are sentenced to life
imprisonment and commit murder
while in prison might not fear any
consequences for their actions.
With this option, there would be
no deterrent to keep these individu-
There is no positive
aspect for giving a
habitual criminal
the option of living
the rest of his or her
life in prison. It only
costs money, and in
some cases, takes
innocent lives.
als from committing murder. This is
an unacceptable concept. Many
criminals see the death penalty as a
major consequence for their actions,
and because of the death penalty,
some criminals are less likely to en
gage in illegal activities.
It is surprising to many individ
uals that Perry would suggest this
idea to the Texas Legislature. Per
ry should rethink his position and
consider the options of what! life
imprisonment without parole
would entail.
There is no positive aspect for
giving a habitual criminal the op
tion of living the rest of his or her
life in prison. It only costs money,
and in some cases, takes innocent
lives.
The Texas Legislature should
think long and hard about what Per
ry is suggesting. The death penalty
deters criminals from committing
other crimes and should be the only
punishment for habitual criminals
in the state of Texas.
Sunnye Owens is a junior
journalism major
Twice-adopted children deserve better
I n life there are rules —-
and there are times that
these rules need to be
broken. Sometimes, these
rules are called laws — but
there are even times when
abiding by the law is not
the best thing to do. Twen
ty-eight-year-old Tranda
Wecker of St. Louis does not deserve the
support of the law. Six months ago, Wecker
gave birth to twin girls and so’ld them for
$6,000 on the Internet with the help of adop
tion broker Tinq Johnson.
Amy and Eddie White of New York of
fered $8,500 but failed to produce the money
quickly enough.
The buyers, Richard and Vickie Allen of
California, did nothing wrong. They cared for
the girls, Kimberly and Belinda, for two
months. When the twins’ natural mother in
sisted that she wanted them back (the law al
lows her 365 days to decide), the Allens sadly
handed over the little girls.
Wecker did not intend to keep the babies.
Instead, she and her unscrupulous broker
Johnson (who has since disappeared) sold the
girls a second time — doubling their original
asking price — to Alan and Judith Kilshaw of
Britain, perhaps the most scandalous and un
fit parents of the group.
Three weeks after the Kilshaws brought
the girls to their home in Wales, they told
their story to the media — exploiting the
baby girls and everyone else involved. The
exploitation has resulted with two little girls
being placed in their fourth home after being
seized by British social services officials in
the County of Flintshire, two sets of parents
wanting to raise these children and a mother
who is $18,000 richer and claims she wants
to utilize her rights to get her girls.
The law says it is the right of the mother to
get them back, but what kind of law can real
ly have a say on this situation? It is hard to
determine who is most at fault for the inci
dent, but the immediate concern should be
where these innocent girls belong. Wecker de
serves no parental rights. She gave up her
rights when she gave up her role as a mother
— twice.
The kind of person who pulls children in
and out of stable homes, not caring about the
The kind of person who
pulls children in and out of
stable homes, not caring
about the
effects this could have on
them, does not deserve any
rights at all.
effects this could have on them, does not de
serve any rights at all. Six months of confu
sion will definitely have psychological effects
on Kimberly and Belinda. Her carelessness is
inexcusable. To add yet another blemish on
her career as a mother, Wecker faces a court
hearing in March for an alleged probation vi
olation and possible jail time. She is not a fit
mother.
Even Wecker’s actions are not compara
ble to the tainted lives of the Kilshaws.
They have only selfishly neglected the ba
bies since the day they bought them. They
are despicable people who used their mon
ey to buy children who should not have
been for sale. Then, instead of waiting 10
days for the babies to be fit to fly, the Kil
shaws , eager to get out of America, forced
them to endure a 2,000-mile drive across
the country. The effects of the trip caused
one of the babies to be hospitalized.
While the Kilshaws should be completely
focused on fighting for their babies’ return,
they are instead exploring the possibilities of
turning their twisted story into a movie. Ju
dith Kilshaw recently said that if she loses the
fight for her babies, she “will go back to
America to adopt two other children, and
stick [her] fingers up to Britain.” This woman
sounds like a real Mrs. Brady.
The most recent decision by a judge in St.
Louis gave the biological father temporary
custody until mid-February. Aaron Wecker’s
lack of knowledge about and interest in the
whereabouts of his children show just as
much neglect as the mother, and the girls
should not be anywhere near him.
The Allens deserve the children. Like it or
not, buying babies is legal, and technically
the Allens bought them first. They had the
most stable time period with the girls and
have shown no interest in exploiting or en
dangering the lives of little Kimberly and Be
linda.
The law cannot always see the differences
between right and wrong. These two little
girls have been wronged too'many times, and
it is time for them to have some consistency
in their lives. They should not be tossed
around like prizes but be returned to the home
that the Allen’s have wanted to give them the
entire time.
Melissa Bedsole is a junior
psychology major.