Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

TOOKIE, KARLA AND U.S. FUNDAMENTALISM

In his new book, Our Endangered Values, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter describes one chararacteristic of fundamentalism as a belief that "I am right and worthy and you are wrong and condemned".

There is no place in the U.S. where fundamentalism rears its ugly head more prominently  as in the criminal justice system.  By  defining some people as "evil" and others as "good", the criminal justice system becomes focused on punishment and death, not on rehabilitation and life.   Furthermore, by defining some people as evil,  society fails to look at the root causes of crime such as the abuse and neglect of children and mental disabilities. 

The death penalty is the obvious result of a nation that sees some people as evil.  Why try to rehabilitate people if you have already defined them as evil and therefore of no value?  Tookie Williams appears to have been a good example of a rehabilitated person, and yet, the Governor of California was unwilling to acknowledge his rehabilitation and show an element of mercy.  Perhaps, for Schwarzenegger, the decision was primarily a political one.  However, there were plenty of fundamentalist voices supporting Tookie's execution regardless of how much he had changed.

My own experience in Texas, where we have had over 350 executions since the death penalty was resumed in 1982, is that fundamentalism rules the day.   I am very familiar with a number of rehabilitated people who have been executed by Texas. Karla Faye Tucker is probably the best known example.   However, there are many more who fall into that category such as James Allridge III, Dominique Green and Anthony Fuentes.  And yet, in Texas, rehabilitation while on death row has counted for nothing to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governors Bush and Perry. 

Fundamentalism is the exact opposite of the teachings of Christ.   Jesus taught us to be humble, compassionate, merciful and forgiving.  Fundamentalism manifests itself by arrogance and a lack of compassion, mercy and forgiveness.    An "eye for an eye" type of justice rules in fundamentalism.  Jesus rejected this form of mentality when he said, "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.  Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon and you will be pardoned (Mt. 18: 21-22".

Recognizing and rejecting fundamentalism is important to U.S. justice and to U.S. society in general. It does not mean that we are soft on crime and let dangerous criminals out on the streets.  Nor does it mean that we ignore the suffering of the victims of crime.  What it does mean is that we let our justice be tempered with mercy and wisdom, recognizing that, sooner or later, we all need mercy in our lives.