Columnist Jamala Rogers
We were led to believe that the case against Saddam Hussein was all about the search for truth and justice. The secretly released video of the hanging reveals a different motive.
The taunts and curses by Shiites before Saddam’s death were fueled more by revenge for the “other” than anything else. The death also occurred in violation of Islamic law because it was the day before Eid-ul-Adha, one of two holy days marking the end of the pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca. Vengeance trumped religious beliefs and sacred customs.
Let’s be clear. Saddam Hussein gets no pass from this writer on the heinous crimes he committed as a brutal dictator. I’m sure those same Shiites who participated as hangmen have the blood of other Sunnis on their hands. What distinguishes them from Saddam?
For those of African descent in this country, hangings bring back ugly memories of U.S. justice from our collective history. Lynchings of black people had little to do with justice and became the cornerstone of the death penalty system in this country.
State killings have gone through several methods to get to a more “humane” way from the firing squad to the electric chair to lethal injection. The public was assured that lethal injections were safe and painless. More and more execution stories are confirming that it is neither.
When vengeance is the motive, much is sacrificed in the process – especially the search for the truth. Evidence is lost, victims manipulated and confessions forced while the judicial process is compromised and laws broken – all in the name of justice.
If 123 people have been freed from death row because they were completely innocent and not because of a legal technicality, then we must assume that some of those already killed also were innocent.
In Missouri, the re-investigation into the wrongful execution of Larry Griffin has been languishing in the circuit attorney’s office for a year and a half now. The truth hasn’t changed since the 1980 crime or his 1995 execution. The Griffin family’s grief and misery are only being compounded as they wait to hear the conclusion they should have heard over 25 years ago.
Since the re-institution of the death penalty, opponents have systematically stripped away the arguments for state killings and highlighted the false pretense of pursuing justice.
The death penalty is rarely given to the “worst of the worst” as it was allegedly created to do. A death sentence is more likely to be given based upon race and class than guilt. There is little, if any, closure to the family’s grief. There is no deterrence in homicides because of the fear of getting a death sentence. The cost of life without parole is much, much less than that of a death sentence not to mention it would give innocent victims the time and opportunity to pursue redress.
So, while the verbal exclamations of joy are rarely heard in the solemn, sanitized U.S. death chambers, the lust for blood is nonetheless omnipresent. Justice and vengeance are incompatible in any judicial system. As a civilized society, our goal is to make justice the undisputed victor.
(Note: The oral arguments in the Michael Taylor lethal injection case will be heard Wednesday, January 10, 3 p.m. at the Eagleton Courthouse, 28th floor.)