SMU Human Rights Activist Rick Halperin: 'No Such Thing As a Better Victim'

A protester is arrested as police and SWAT teams
push back a surging crowd across from the
prison grounds. Source: AI. More here

The execution of Troy Davis was a tragedy and a failure in every sense of the word. How we can kill someone when there is reasonable doubt of innocence is mind-boggling. But it’s not surprising.

The Davis case wasn't just about killing Troy Davis. It’s about us. It's about who we are — as a people and as individuals — and what sense of morals and principles we believe in and are committed to defending and advocating.

On the same night as Troy Davis’ execution, Lawrence Brewer was executed in Texas for arguably one of the worst crimes in recent memory — of killing James Byrd, dragging him behind a truck to a horrific death. And here were two very different types of cases: One regarding a black man with strong claims of innocence being executed for killing a white policeman. Another for a white supremacist who admitted to his guilt for killing a black man.

Though the Davis case was certainly compelling because of his potential innocence, and the Byrd murder is nothing less than despicable, we should feel the same outrage over all death penalty cases. There's no such thing as a better victim.

Rather than using the law to put to death the innocent and guilty alike, we should be using the law to lead this country to a more enlightened set of behaviors, ones that will make us better as a people and make us better than we think we can be.

Source: SMU News, Sept. 24, 2011

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