California’s Death Penalty

The ultimate act of violence is to take a human life, and it is the reason Harris is currently on Death Row. Now the State of California is preparing to retaliate in kind. When this happens, each and every Californian will be an accomplice to premeditated murder. As a resident of this state, I reject this position.

I abhor the crimes Harris has committed. Yet if California joins the killing states of the U.S. and carries out this execution, are we, then, any better than he? Have we not shown the same disregard for the sanctity of human life?

Our nation shares the application of the death penalty with countries that have abysmal human rights records such as China, Turkey and Iraq. We are fooling ourselves into believing we are an enlightened society until we create wiser, more compassionate and more practical ways of dealing with people like Harris. Let’s begin by exercising the quality of mercy.

JOAN C. BAEZ, President, Humanitas, Menlo Park