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Why I Oppose the Death Penalty

By Delane Sims

As an African American women living in Oakland, whose brother was murdered, I strongly oppose the death penalty. More than anything, I want to live in a safe community—a community where my six sons and my daughter are able to pursue all of theirs dreams without fear of becoming another number in the city homicide count. We live with the consistent threat that - this time - it will be one of them and not a friend or classmate that will become another Oakland victim. While I love my city, this is simply a reality faced by people of color in Oakland each day. I believe a vital step to help end this tide of fear is to end the use of the death penalty.

Why the death penalty? The death penalty is very hurtful to the minority community in Alameda County and the entire state. One reason for this is due to the tremendous cost associated with the death penalty that is draining the county budget. Every death penalty trial costs local counties $1.1 million more than a trial ending in permanent imprisonment. Every person already on death row costs state tax payers hundreds of thousands.

In total, we are paying $139 million each and every year more, for a broken death penalty system, than we would pay for those individuals condemned to permanent imprisonment instead. And now we know that rebuilding death row at San Quentin will cost nearly $400 million, plus over $1 billion to operate the facility for 20 years. While we are spending all this money on people on death row most of them end up dying of natural causes before their long delayed sentences are carried out. At this time of fiscal crisis, when every state program is being cut, just imagine what that money could buy. For example, our children in Oakland could greatly benefit from more afterschool programs, playgrounds, and other activities that can lead them to a more productive life.

People of color, specifically African-Americans and Latinos, are much more likely to be victims of murder than our white neighbors. Yet, the death penalty is reserved almost exclusively for cases where the victim is white. A statewide study by Professors Michael Radelet and Glenn Pierce on race and the death penalty found people convicted of killing a white person are three times more likely to be sentenced to death than someone convicted of killing an African-American. If the victim is Latino, the disparity grows to four times. I don’t know what causes the disparity, but it may have a lot to do with the fact that homicides of people of color are less likely to be solved than homicides of white victims. In Alameda County, where I live, only 26% of homicides were solved in 2005. Given that we can keep those on death row from returning to the streets without executions, the millions spent on death row could be better spent for more detectives to solve the many cold cases. That could begin to make those in Oakland feel a bite more safe.

But perhaps more disturbing, at least to me, that same study found that counties that are predominately white are more likely to send people to death row than counties that are diverse. Death sentencing in California is based on geography, not on a structured, evenhanded formula. Only ten counties account for 85% of death sentences since 2000 and Alameda County is one of them. The vast majority of California counties rarely or never send anyone to death row.

We should also ask how many of the 670 people on death row are in fact innocent? Thank God for DNA testing and for those that have been exonerated in the past; but have mercy on those that did not escape the clutches of a broken and unfair system. DNA evidence is only available in a small number of cases. We will never know how many innocent people we have already executed in this country, let alone how many innocent people are growing old on death row all the while praying that someone will help them.

My hope is that more people will understand how unjust the death penalty is and will call for a halt to all death penalty trials. In the meantime, the money now spent on death penalty facilities, and all monies directed towards new death penalty cases should be funneled towards resources that will strengthen our communities. The best way to do that is through funding education. Fight Crime, Invest in Kids—a law enforcement organization—found that increasing California’s high school graduation rate by 10% would prevent 500 homicides per year. They found the impact would be greatest in schools that are predominantly African-American and Latino, schools were the majority of students now do not graduate. Educating our children is not only smart policy in and of itself, it is also the most effective violence prevention program we have.

Please don’t surmise that I don’t sympathize with all the families that are victims of murder, being one myself, I certainly care. However, I would not have wanted to relive my brother’s murder over and over again, trial after trial, as happens in death penalty cases. A discovery I made in the wake of my brothers murder is that hating or failing to forgive the perpetrator allows more than one grave to be dug. The stress, pain and hurt that could riddle my body and mind just does not serve me nor honor my brother’s memory. I feel that as long as the perpetrator is permanently locked away, they will serve time in hell here on earth. My heart is with each family that has ever had to face the devastating pain of losing a loved one to a senseless crime.

We are only as strong as our weakest link. Marginalizing communities based on the color of ones skin needs to become a thing of the past - ASAP. We will come closer to that goal if we replace the death penalty with permanent imprisonment and invest the money saved in educating all our children.

Delane Sims is the owner of a nail spa in Oakland but is a social justice activist at heart. She volunteers as chair of a senior group she founded in San Leandro, is a commissioner on Aging in Alameda County, a student at Berkeley City College and is now the Death Penalty Outreach Coordinator for the ACLU of Northern California.

Posted on June 20, 2008

Comments

As Gore Vidal recently said, "I oppose the death penalty....except for Bush and Cheney."

Posted by: Linda Sutton at June 21, 2008 09:08 AM

Normally I wouldn't comment on things like this but you really struck a nerve with me about how you can be so jaded. I was also a fellow Oakland citizen. I was raised catholic as most Latina's are, and have been raised with the notion that the death penalty is bad and that GOD should be the ultimate Judge. I think its a load of crap. I have grown up around street violence and gangs my whole life. I was jumped in at 13 and the only way I got out was by giving up every single member in that gang to the police. I am lucky to be alive. There are so many things that are wrong with this society I couldn't even begin to count, but victimizing ourselves should not be the excuse.

What I mean by that is this... in a nutshell, You say that blacks & latinos make up the majority of the people in jail & on deathrow. We all know right from wrong, good & bad, fair & unjust, and yet we still choose to do things that are wrong & bad. We all have choices to make. Yeah so someone jumps you into a gang and gives you a gun and tells you to kill certain people and go deal to this neighborhood, but you don't have to go along with it. I got my ass beat down, broken, raped, and almost killed plenty of times but I still did what was right, and because of that I am not a statistic. Its about personal choice and courage and confidence in yourself. The choice was do what they say or get beat down.. most people do what the gang says--thats a choice. And they wind up in jail for it. Thats why they are on deathrow, thats why they are stuck in a cycle of violence. They can't let go of their pride and EGO to get their ass whooped for standing up for what is right. I'm sick of other minorities bitching about how our lives are unfair and how we are always the victims. GET OVER IT! You become the victim becuase you choose to react as the victim. you break the law you go to jail; you kill a person in cold blood like a savage, you should DIE in prison like one too. I can honestly say that some of the career criminals I've come across deserve to die. They never gave a rats ass about human life, family, or anything a normal person holds sacred in this world. They have no respect for anything or anyone and think the world owes them everything because they are the "victims" and somewhere along the line, someone told them they were a victim so they started acting like one.

As for your comment abot the cold cases... it is obvious to me that you have never seen a cop try to conduct a homicide investigation in a community of people who HATE cops. How willing do you think people are to throw them a bone? Without help from the community, as in having witnesses talk, they get nowhere. We shoot ourselves in the foot by not cooperating or offering leads. We raise our kids to hate the cops! If you live in Oakland, just go to the courthouse and check out an arraignment dept and look at our peers showing up to court in the most ghetto fab and degrading outfits, and the "no snitches" T-shirts say it all. people have no respect for themselves, others, other people's property, their own property, or the law. They don't care anymore and thats the sad part. They think that the law is always against them... well if they quit breaking it, then they wouldn't be in that situation. You want to know why white murders are solved? because white people snitch. They ACTUALLY WANT top find the killer and bring them to justice. They WORK with the police to solve a crime. Cops can't do it alone... its a community effort to bring someone to justice just like it is to raise a a good citizen.

The reason why some monority murders aren't solved is because some families where thug life is the norm have become all too comfortable with all the section 8 free houseing, free welfare checks, free food stamps, and tax free drug money being brought into the households and therefore will turn a blind-eye to whatever the family member is doing. I have witnessed this first hand. I admit it, I too got pulled into the lifestyle. What 13 year old girl didn't want to have money? My family was broke all the time. And with the money I was given and the stolen clothes and accessories I got from the gang, we could all live comfortably and actually go on vacations. My mom knew I was in a gang and tried to get me out of it but after a while she turned a blind eye to me not being home so long as I stayed in school and wasn't reported truant. At 13, I knew it was wrong, but I chose to do it, no one forced me. That was the hardest thing I had to break free from. How do you give up money, designer clothes, nice cars. It wasn't until a year later that they put a gun up to a fellow gang member for associating with her old boyfriend, then gangbanged her as punishment, that I realised what I had gotten myself into. If I had not had the courage to work with the police and risk my life, I am sure others would have had worse fates, myself included.

The 2 things I do agree with you on is that 1. our death penalty system is broken. it should be a without a doubt DNA proven system for execution. It is unfortunate that innocents do die with the guilty which is why we should work harder to improve it so that those kind of mistakes don't happen. But we do need a death penalty, I don't know about you but I sloeep better at night knowing that some of the monsters I helped convict are going to die soon and will never murder and rape again.
and 2. We need more education. We need to educate our peers that the police are not the bad guys. That we are oppressing ourselves by not taking advantage of the education we are provided and by not taking the innitiative to seek more. And that we do this to ourselves by turning a blind eye to the activity around us. We need the courage to stand up and say enough! and take responsability for our actions instead of blaming society and victimising ourselves. Life is never fair--so make the most of what you have, and fight for more. I did. and I am better off for it.

Posted by: M. G. at June 22, 2008 02:42 PM

Dear M.G,

Thank you for your passionate and heartfelt response to my op-ed. First I want to say how amazing a woman you must be to have survived the life you had. I commend you for taking a stand and choosing to leave the gang life that has taken its toll on so many of our people. You are a rare person to have the insight and will to walk away from the gangs and live through it all. Please accept my deepest respect and appreciation for choosing to make the type of decisions that saves lives and - not take them.

I also apologize if I offended you in anyway but let me explain. Girlfriend, I am NOT a VICTIM or else I to would not have survived all the things my life has dished me. I'm not talking about being a victim, in the sense of feeling like someone should piety me and feel sorry for me. On the other hand, we are all victims of our circumstance. You were a victim too but you, like me, choose to not become victimizers.

The death penalty is just too broken for me to support its existence in its current form; however, I would not want those beasts that violated you to ever see the light of day again. So I think permanent incarceration is the best solution. I know you want to see those you have helped put in jail die, but the fact is many on death row die of natural causes rather then execution. One of my sons is in jail right now and believe me, some would prefer to die than live in the hell hole that jail is. Men in jail get raped, looked away for 23 hours a day, and treated like animals. Yeah, for those who want to see inmates treated that way, its one thing, but there are innocent people locked away that should never have darkened a prison doorway in the first place. Then there are those in jail that have not committed crimes that warrant the type of life one suffers in jail, like my son. Now my son's mind has been altered for life cause of what he has experienced in prison, you can't make sound choices in the future when your mind ain't right.

I'm just bringing attention to the fact that the criminal justice system is broken in many ways and death sentencing is one of them.
I love your passion and I would love to speak to you more. I could learn a lot from you and I would love to share more with you too. It would be awesome if we can make that happen!
Peace
Delane

Posted by: Delane at August 6, 2008 03:45 PM

Dear Linda,

Thank you for your passionate and heartfelt response to my op-ed. First I want to say how amazing a woman you must be to have survived the life you had. I commend you for taking a stand and choosing to leave the gang life that has taken its toll on so many of our people. You are a rare person to have the insight and will to walk away from the gangs and live through it all. Please accept my deepest respect and appreciation for choosing to make the type of decisions that saves lives and - not take them.

I also apologize if I offended you in anyway but let me explain. Girlfriend, I am NOT a VICTIM or else I to would not have survived all the things my life has dished me. I'm not talking about being a victim, in the sense of feeling like someone should piety me and feel sorry for me. On the other hand, we are all victims of our circumstance. You were a victim too but you, like me, choose to not become victimizers.

The death penalty is just too broken for me to support its existence in its current form; however, I would not want those beasts that violated you to ever see the light of day again. So I think permanent incarceration is the best solution. I know you want to see those you have helped put in jail die, but the fact is many on death row die of natural causes rather then execution. One of my sons is in jail right now and believe me, some would prefer to die than live in the hell hole that jail is. Men in jail get raped, looked away for 23 hours a day, and treated like animals. Yeah, for those who want to see inmates treated that way, its one thing, but there are innocent people locked away that should never have darkened a prison doorway in the first place. Then there are those in jail that have not committed crimes that warrant the type of life one suffers in jail, like my son. Now my son's mind has been altered for life cause of what he has experienced in prison, you can't make sound choices in the future when your mind ain't right.

I'm just bringing attention to the fact that the criminal justice system is broken in many ways and death sentencing is one of them.
I love your passion and I would love to speak to you more. I could learn a lot from you and I would love to share more with you too. It would be awesome if we can make that happen!
Peace
Delane

Posted by: Delane at August 6, 2008 03:47 PM

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