Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Friday, January, 17,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editor
Pat Payne
Editorial
Death penalty
system is broken,
in need of repair
or even abolition
It’s not very often that someone in government does
something extraordinary. Gov. George Ryan of Illinois has.
A week ago tomorrow, Ryan, the outgoing republican gov
ernor, commuted the death sentences of all 156 prisoners
waiting to be executed on the state’s death row.
The commutations came after a four-year stretch that
began when journalism students at Northwestern Universi
ty began looking at death row cases. Soon after, with the
help of DNA technology, men who had been condemned to
die for almost a decade were suddenly freed. One man was
only two days away from being executed when his inno
cence was proved.
Ryan’s own investigations, carried out by a blue-ribbon
panel he appointed to do a multi-year study, turned up oth
er chilling statistics. The condemned were overwhelmingly
minorities, often poor. The death penalty is five times more
likely to be administered in the rural areas of Illinois than in
Cook County, which contains the city of Chicago. Of the
156 men on death row, 17 were found to be totally inno
cent, either because of DNA testing or proof that their con
fessions were beaten out of them in the police’s zeal to find
someone, anyone, to clear up a homicide investigation.
Others were condemned when their lawyers, often under
paid public defenders, were incompetent and did not put
up a vigorous defense.
Regardless of personal feelings about the death
penalty, everyone should see that the system is broken
and in need of either repair or abolition. The death
penalty is irreversible: once it’s been administered,
there is no pardon, no reprieve. If America is to have a
death penalty, it has to be one that is administered
only to those who, without a shadow of a doubt and
with no room for human error, are guilty.
A nationwide moratorium on the death penalty is in or
der at this moment, to examine how to proceed with what
is the most awesome and horrifying power of government
— the sanctioned killing of its own citizens. The justice sys
tem must clear up all the problems with overzealous police
or incompetent defenders or mistakes in technology or
whatever the cause may be, and if they cannot be cleared
up, to abolish the penalty altogether. It is time for all the
other governors in states that allow the death penalty, as
well as the Department of Justice, to think about the issue
and look at the executions that have been carried out and
those still pending.
But in a larger, more cosmic sense, philosophers say that
even then, there can be no justice with the death penalty.
Justice is more than just retribution, or “lex talonis;” it
must have some way of recompensing the family of the vic
tim. Putting a murderer to death may fulfill a need for
vengeance, but it will not return the murdered; it cannot
provide closure or recompense—or real justice.
Editorial policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be
sefittoletters@dailyemerald.com. Letters
to the editor and guest commentaries are
encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words
and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Authors are limited to one submission per
calendar month. Submission must include
phone number and address for verification.
The Emerald reserves the right to edit for
space, grammar and style.
Editorial board members
Michael j. Kleckner Jessica Richelderfer
Editor in chief Managing editor
Pat Payne
Editorial editor
Jenna Cunningham
Student representative
FINALLY. HIS OIL
IS MINE!
'/Os
WE FOUGHT 'EM
FOR TH l-S *?
\
1
Peter Utsey Emerald
Letters to the editor
Nonviolence leads
to self-confidence
In his essay “A Testament of Hope,”
Martin Luther King Jr. said that when he
lived in Montgomery, Ala., he kept a gun
in his house, but he decided to get rid of
it when he began teaching nonviolence.
He said that discarding the gun made
him feel more secure and gave him a
stronger sense of self-confidence. “Ulti
mately, one’s sense of manhood must
come from within,” he said.
Roland Bartel
professor emeritus
English
We need Measure 28
Most of us will soon have our special
election ballots in our hands. The time
has come to make the decision that
comes from your heart, and vote yes on
Measure 28.
Very few people want to give more of
their hard-earned cash to the govern
ment, even #1.30 a week. But if you’ve
seen some of The Register-Guard stories
or know someone whose life will be truly
messed up if Measure 28 fails, you know
it’s not just giving money to the govern
ment. It’s giving help to real people who
really need it.
It’s supporting goals our own commu
nity has carefully developed over many
years of great effort. It’s an expression of
selflessness and compassion. It’s a
deep understanding that all of us depend
on each other for so many things, and
that we have asked our government to do
this work on our behalf.
Our neighbors with disabilities, illness,
addiction; our children with a desire to
learn and develop skills for the future; our
own need to be protected from destructive
criminal elements — this temporary in
crease will fund them while our new Leg
islature looks for ways out of this mess
without a devastating cutoff of support. If
you are not directly affected by one of
these programs, you are one of the lucky
ones. Please show your gratitude by sup
porting those in need. Vote yes on 28.
Tim Mueller
Eugene
Measure 28 headline
shows wrong point
This past Monday, I was surprised by
a Daily Emerald headline that pro
claimed “Measure (28) may increase tu
ition surcharge.” As many students
know, this is untrue. Simply put, the
passage of Measure 28 will prevent a tu
ition surcharge. To my displeasure, this
error was repeated in the article’s sub
headline, which incorrectly claimed
that Measure 28 would leave “students
paying a higher price.” These errors are
unfortunate as they provide false infor
mation to students — a group which will
suffer greatly if Measure 28 fails.
Tim Johnson
junior
history, political science
War may be needed to free Iraai people
Guest commentary
DAVIS, Calif.—As the looming conflict
with Iraq inches closer, sentiment against
the war can be found in abundant supply
on campus. I’d agree that our imminent
conflict with Iraq is not likely to accom
plish much, but to be honest I find the
overwhelming antiwar attitude depress
ing. The truth of the matter is that I be
lieve there will come a day when we’ll
have to go to war with Iraq, and when that
day comes, I hope that we are both ready
and willing to go.
Why? Because sooner or later, when
the Iraqi people say they want their own
government and their own freedoms, we
will have to fight for them. The alterna
tive is to watch as Hussein’s Republican
Guard butchers those who question his
power, and we cannot let that happen.
What President Bush does not seem to
realize is that we have a great deal to do be
fore a war with Iraq will have any meaning.
First, the U.S. needs to put all of its ef
forts into brokering a peace between Is
raelis and Palestinians. As long as that
conflict continues, Arab dictators can
(and do) deflect blame for their country’s
lack of education, health care, and human
rights onto Israel and the U.S.
Second, we need to make sure
Afghanistan gets back on its feet. We have
quite the history of fighting the good fight
in the Middle East and then forgetting the
people we affect.
Third, we need to reduce our depend
ence on fossil fuels. We need to remove
any doubt that our intentions are any
thing more than a desire to see Arabs en
joy the same freedoms we do, and energy
independence is the place to start.
Meanwhile, if we can broker peace in
Palestine and develop renewable energy
sources, we will prove ourselves to be a
responsible global neighbor and our inter
national support will grow as our list of ul
terior motives shrinks.
Finally, we have to do the hardest thing
imaginable: When the Iraqis (or Iranians,
or anyone else in the region) ask for their
freedom, we must win it for them. Be
cause they cannot.
Our military could probably roll over
any force in the Middle East. The ques
tion is: Will we still go when we have noth
ing to gain but the freedom of another? I
hope we do. That’s why I want us to be
ready for war... just not yet.
Patrick Bocash writes for The California
Aggie at the University of California-Davis.
(U-Wire).