Killing Prisoners With a Vengeance

His name is Bobby Lee Harris. We're killing him for revenge.

Bobby and a co-worker decided to rob their boss, John Redd, on the company fishing boat.

They didn't plan to kill him, but Mr. Redd, more than a little tipsy, "wouldn't stop whining," as Bobby put it, so Bobby stabbed the man three times and threw him overboard.

Bobby, busy and irritated, ignored the dim prospect that We the People of North Carolina might seek vengeance a decade later.

I can only begin to imagine the horror that John Redd and his family endured. To them I can offer only my prayers.

Since our vengeance is imminent, I pray that they may find healing despite it. I pray that other victims' families may heal without vengeance.

Death penalty proponents claim that it's not vengeance, but a deterrent.

Apparently none of the 215 N.C. death row inmates were deterred. But that makes sense, because a good deterrent has four qualities: speed, frequency, severity and consistency. The death penalty has only severity, which explains why so many high-quality scientific studies insist that the death penalty deters no crime.

Alstory Simon wasn't deterred when he murdered Marilyn Greene and Jerry Hilliard in a drug deal gone bad. Why should he be? The people of Illinois hungered so ravenously for swift vengeance that they nearly executed Anthony Porter for Simon's crime.

Anthony Porter is black, a minority just like the majority of death row inmates.

Simon's victims were minorities. That's unusual; 83 percent of the victims in capital crimes are white.

Anthony Porter is poor like most death-row inmates, too poor to afford O.J. Simpson's attorneys. His family was wise enough to shun the state-appointed lawyer, but when their money ran out their private attorney fell asleep on the job. In the courtroom, even.

Anthony Porter has an IQ of 51, a fact that got him caught and convicted but ironically saved his life less than 51 hours before execution, when a volunteer lawyer obtained a stay.

Porter is innocent, a fact that didn't affect his last-minute stay.

He is one of the "lucky" 80 or more exonerated death row inmates. If the Chicago Tribune's series on prosecutorial misconduct is accurate, there are more innocents waiting to be freed or killed.

How many innocents have I killed?

And if Harris or Porter are typical, we spent $2.16 million more seeking vengeance against each than we'd have spent to imprison him for life.

A good portion of that $2.16 million goes for the extra appeals that profess to protect innocents in our convoluted system.

Ironic that the only thing those bought Porter was time -- the time for a college journalism class to prove he was innocent.

But time is the one thing convicts have in abundance when we don't pursue the violent approach. "Violence, even well-intentioned, invariably rebounds."

This Taoist lesson is one that Martin Luther King, Jr., whom we celebrated yesterday, understood well.

Violent vengeance affects society. Children learn that violence can be acceptable.

Citizens with troubled consciences dissociate from what North Carolina does on our behalf, and we all take less responsibility for our actions.

The death penalty reveals the character of North Carolinians: Unlike most "civilized" folks, we'd kill even a bound prisoner.

Many countries employ an alternative to violent vengeance: life in prison without parole. Bobby Lee Harris, and others like him, aren't safe to loose on society.

While the death penalty is great at preventing recidivism, permanent incarceration does, too - and can be partly undone when errors appear.

Forcing prisoners to "right their wrongs" by paying restitution to victims would help their current double punishment: first victimized, then forced to pay the taxes that facilitate vengeance.

There are dangers. Escapes occur, as the "Texas Seven" demonstrate. Ironically, the death penalty is an incentive to them: The death penalty is now the primary deterrent to their peaceful surrender.

I believe in not killing bound prisoners. Rather than torture you with all the metaphysical arguments for this belief, I'll just quote a hero: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Many others share my belief.

Yet when We the People reap vengeance on our unruly citizens, we do so on my behalf, and on the behalf of the others who share my views.

Perhaps you don't believe that the death penalty is wrong. I respect your belief.

Could you respect my belief and not force me to violate my principles?

I'm going to kill a man this week, and I can't choose otherwise.

If you wish to act, you've got a great campus opportunity - Campaign to End the Death Penalty. If you prefer the spiritual approach, there's an active chapter of People of Faith against the Death Penalty in Chapel Hill.

Or, if you're the political type, investigate the Tar Heel Libertarians.

The Libertarian Party is the only political party in North Carolina to have a plank against the death penalty.

To learn more or find contact information for the above groups, visit our Web site: http:/www.unc.edu/student/orgs/tl/.

Russ Helms is a Ph.D. candidate in biostatistics from Chapel Hill who has a friend suffering an experimental cancer treatment today. Russ wishes Morgan well. Your prayers, blessings, good vibes and/or healing spells are welcome. E-mail Russ at rhelms@bios.unc.edu.