The death penalty is a conspiracy to murder in a pre-meditated, calculated, deliberate, and most intentional way

The National Radio Project's program, Making Contact, is a great radio show and on May 3, 2006 they had a show on death penalty abolitionists 25 mile walk in California which is worth listening to for the human interest and for inspiration. Here is the synopsis of the show from the National Radio Project's web site:

Opposition to the death penalty comes in many forms, but few individuals express their opposition as fervently as a group of California religious leaders who walk - rain or shine - 25 miles for every state held execution. This time they walk for Michael Morales and Terry Winchell. Morales was convicted of raping and murdering 18-year-old Winchell in 1983.

On this edition, Making Contact's Sarah Olson takes us on this 25-mile journey on a cool, sunny day on February 20th. The walk begins near the Presidio in San Francisco... crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge... winding through Marin County... and ending up at the gates of San Quentin prison. It's a walk of protest, peace, and compassion.

A couple of the interviews point out that we conspire in pre-meditated cold blooded murder when we allow the government to kill people in our name. And this act, in most cases, is far more calculated, deliberate, and intentional than most of the acts for which the offender is being put to death. When looked at from this point of view, whose moral culpability is greater, the offender being executed, or the people who knowingly conspire and promote organized murder in their name?

There is a great deal of evidence that the death penalty is not a deterent to homicide. In fact, the data seems to show the opposite, that is, in states that have the death penalty and use it, the homicide rate, in general, is higher than in states that do not have the death penalty. How can such observations be explained? It may be as simple as concluding that you don't teach people not to kill by killing. It seems to be the height of hypocrisy.

Work towards the elimination of the death penalty in your state if it has it, and in the nation and around the world.

To go to the National Radio Project's web site, click on the link below.

Link: The Long Walk to Abolish the Death Penalty.