Apparently emails are being blocked, but this is an email that I at least tried to send to the people who are risking executing an innocent man tonight; legally; in the United States of America where is still considered acceptable to commit capital punishment.
Some in my country want to reintroduce it, but I think enough people are against it that we won’t return to such a barbaric practice.
I have always struggled to believe that a first world democratic country would continue to perpetrate what is essentially legalised murder. It is revenge, not justice, not financially cheaper, and does not reduce crime.
But even for those who haven’t been convinced that it should be abolished, I would hope that they would at least find it unacceptable when the guilt of the condemned is in such doubt.
Here’s one piece for background http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/21/troy-davis-10-reasons
Here’s that email:
Dear Clemency Board members:
You are no doubt being inundated with emails pleading you to reconsider your decision regarding the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Over here in England, we of course do not know the details of this case anywhere near as well as you do, so what right do we have to ask you to grant mercy on this man?
As you are probably aware, in the United Kingdom no crime is punishable by death. Our last execution took place in 1964, was officially abolished for murder in 1969 and for all other remaining offences in 1998. Justice is still served here. We simply do not commit the same act as the criminal in order to serve it. No one has been executed in my lifetime in this country so I have grown up finding the idea of capital punishment shocking. I struggle to remind myself that a free country like the United States still has not abolished it.
One reason for this attitude is the concern that mistakes might be made and innocent people may be killed for no reason. To spend a life in prison for a crime you didn’t commit is horrible. To be killed because of a mistake is beyond words.
But your country and your state has not abolished it. So you find yourself with a life in your hands. There are doubts about his guilt.
The eyes of the world are watching and we are praying for you to make the right decision. Even though I would like the United States to move forward and abolish capital punishment completely, wielding the legal power to end someone’s life must surely be carried out with only the surest of convictions.
Please be sure you are not guilty of killing an innocent man tonight.
Regards,
Alan Pritt