The Politics of Justice—and the Cost of Staying Home

What an interesting week.

Get Out The Vote

Did you vote? I was disappointed to see Oklahoma’s turnout. We elected a new governor, several other statewide offices, the entire state legislature, and voted on two constitutional questions. Yet less than half of our eligible voters turned out.

It seems the trend has been for lower turnout in the midterms, which is disappointing. I think the midterms are arguably more important than the presidential elections. The midterms seat a third of the U.S. Senate and the entire U.S. House of Representatives. 36 governors are chosen in the midterm cycle. I think those political offices have much more control over your day-to-day life than the President does.

I had high hopes for a turnaround in Oklahoma, though I wasn’t expectant. Cyndi Munson, the Democratic candidate for governor, I thought had a good platform, and I voted for her. ‘Twas not to be, though she only lost by 6 points, or just over 67,000 votes.

The GOP pretty much swept the state offices, though Democrats picked up five seats in the state House.

The state has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, and one of the lowest-ranked education systems. Our healthcare ranks 46^th for access and 47^th for quality. The GOP has had control of the state for the last sixteen years, and our national rankings have not improved over that time. I wasn’t so much hoping for a Democratic takeover, but I wanted some change in the way the state runs. Guess I’ve got to wait a while.

Retributive Killing

California Governor Gavin Newsom sent shockwaves across the country Thursday when he announced he was commuting the sentences of all 548 death row prisoners in the state.

Reactions have been heated, to say the least. I was thrilled. Others were less so.

Marc Klaas, father of 12-year-old Polly Klass who was murdered in 1993, said Newsom’s announcement felt like a “shiv in the back.”

On the other hand, Jess Nichol, one of Polly’s sisters, said, “I won’t pretend I’ve always opposed the death penalty. I used to think the man who killed my sister deserved execution. But over time I’ve realized that whether he’s executed has absolutely nothing to do with my recovery or with real public safety. The system tells survivors that execution matters to our healing. It doesn’t. It’s a distraction from what we actually need.”

There’s a meme going across Facebook that lists a number of the inmates supposedly affected by the commutation, and it includes Scott Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife and their unborn child in 2002. Except Peterson wasn’t on death row. He’d been sentenced to death originally but was resentenced in 2021 to life without parole due to judicial misconduct in his original trial.

It should be noted, too, that Newsom’s commutation isn’t guaranteed. Of the affected inmates, 382 have multiple felony convictions affecting their sentence, so the California Supreme Court has to review those commutations.

Newsom has long been opposed to the death penalty. He announced a moratorium in 2019 shortly after he took office. The commutation solidifies that action, at least for those currently on death row.

It’s been suggested that Newsom’s action was politically motivated, maybe in preparation for a 2028 presidential campaign. I don’t think it was, and I wouldn’t care if it was. It’s consistent with his position since he took office, and it’s the right thing to do.

He pointed out in 2019 in his moratorium statement that the death penalty is unfairly applied to minorities, people with mental disabilities, and people who cannot afford costly legal representation. Further, those convicted of killing whites were more than three times as likely to be sentenced to death as those convicted of killing blacks and more than four times as likely as those convicted of killing Latinos.

The Death Penalty Information Center reports that “The single most likely outcome of a capital case once a death sentence is imposed is that the conviction or death sentence will be overturned and the defendant will not be resentenced to death.”

Capital punishment can’t be applied fairly in this country. We’re just not capable of it.

Capital punishment needs to go away. Abolish it nationwide, before we kill another innocent person.

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