Tookie Dies

As everyone knows by now, Stanley "Tookie" Williams died by lethal injection early this morning.



The facts of the case are well known, although a commentator on National Public Radio recently refuted Williams' claim that he co-founded the Crips back in the 70s. According to that man, the Crips emerged a couple of years before that, and Williams co-founded another gang on the west side of Los Angeles that later merged with the Crips.

In any case, Williams was there pretty early. He was convicted of shooting four people during a robbery (although he always maintained that he was innocent), spent about 24 years in prison going through the usual appeals, grew to regret his violent past and became an author of children's books designed to turn kids away from gang life. There were plenty of people, mostly Hollywood celebrities and recording artists, who claimed that because Tookie had changed his heart, his life ought to be spared.

Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't agree. He turned down Tookie's appeal for clemency yesterday. He said Tookie's trial was conducted properly, the evidence proved his guilt, he showed no remorse for the crime he committed, and in fact the dedications of his books and various other items showed that he didn't really even feel remorse for any of the violence the Crips perpetrated. (Some say that none of this matters a damn - that the Governator sent Tookie to his death because he's trying to shore up his political support among conservatives.)

Be that as it may, this is my blog and I'm supposed to let you know what I think, right?

Well, I don't necessarily opposed the death penalty in all cases. Like many others, I'm troubled by the fact that most death row inmates are black, and are there because they killed white people, but that doesn't say anything about the death penalty; that says something about the American system of justice, which doesn't work as well as it should.

I can't get too worked up about Tookie Williams, either, to be perfectly honest with you. Assuming that he committed the crime for which he was punished, I'm content with the result; it's a "punishment fit the crime" scenario. If he did not, I can only pray that our system of justice gets fixed in a hurry. If, despite what the Governator says, Williams genuinely repented of his crimes - whether the deaths of the people he was convicted for, or the death spread by his followers in the Crips - that's between him and his God, who does not look at the appearance, but knows the heart. If he did not repent, let's hope that his death effected repentance for him.

Which bring us to the Jewish approach to capital punishment. The Bible teaches that many sins draw execution as a punishment. I know of no obvious common thread; they include various forms of blasphemy, murder, adultery, idol worship, and a host of others. The Bible clearly teaches that, in some cases at least, capital punishment acts as a deterrent to crime (see Verse 20 in particular), but more importantly, Torah text implies that repentance is not enough to provide forgiveness in all cases.

That's a frightening thing to contemplate, but take a look at this. Here's a guy named Achan who commits a sin, disobeying God's command. When asked to confess, he willingly does so. What's more, he doesn't just say "Yes I did that." He calls it what it is - he says "I have sinned."

There are those among us who, when they hear someone sincerely repent in that way, say to us "We should let that person live, because he has repented and now he will do good." Not this time - the Hebrews take Achan out of the camp and stone him. Why? Partly to remove the sin from the people, so that they can get right with God, but certain sages taught something a little different. For some sins, repentance is enough; for others, one must repent and die.

So, because Tookie Williams underwent lethal injection, is he now forgiven? Is he with God now?

Then again, as long as we're talking about execution practices in ancient Israel...

Although many sins draw execution as a punishment, the sages teach that executions in real life were so rare as to be almost nonexistant. Why? In order to sentence a person to death, the ancient Hebrew courts had to hear the same exact story of what happened from at least two witnesses, both of them found to be of exemplary moral character. What's more, they had to testify not only that they saw the sin, but that they approached the sinner first and said "What you are about to do is a sin and you shouldn't do it," and that the sinner went ahead and did it anyway. No wonder the Talmud says that a high court which imposed more than one execution in seven years was considered destructive. Notice, too, that the great Rabbi Akiva with Rabbi Tarfon said "Had we sat on the Sanhedrin [the ancient Hebrew high court] none would ever have been put to death."

So, because disagreement exists as to exactly what Tookie Williams did or did not do, should he have been spared?

Don't ask me to answer those questions, friends and neighbors. This discussion has been going on for a long, long time, and it's not going to stop now.

Benshlomo says, Leave the man alone and talk about what he taught you.