Vin Ferrer/The Mirror
Imagine seeing a murderer strapped to a gurney, struggling to say his last words as prison guards inject a lethal dose of poison. A human life is extinguished.
Now imagine that person was innocent.
This may be the case for the late Troy Anthony Davis, a Georgia native who was convicted of murdering a police officer in 1989 and who was subsequently executed this past Wednesday. The case has sparked national interest, as there was substantial doubt surrounding Davis’ case. He claimed innocence until his last moments of life.
As college students, we are the leaders and lawmakers of tomorrow. Examining the details of Davis’ case as well as exploring the Fairfield student body response to his recent execution could give us a look into the future of the death penalty in America.
Troy Davis vs The State of Georgia
According to Georgia police reports, Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 of fatally shooting off-duty police officers in a parking lot near a Savannah, GA Burger King, where the men worked as security guards. Davis was sentenced to death, but refused to accept his fate easily.
Throughout the twenty years Davis sat on death row, he pleaded with local officials, insisting that he had been wrongfully convicted. Davis persuaded local lawmakers to re-examine and appeal his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately for him, no changes were made in conviction.
Davis gained the support of well-known international celebrities, such as former president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI, as well as human rights groups and a large portion of the American public.
According to The Washington Post, Jimmy Carter once said, “If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated.”
America may never know whether or not Troy Davis was guilt, but the attention around the case sheds light on the larger issue of the death penalty in 2011. When asked, Fairfield students had strong convictions on the topic, many siding with Jimmy Carter.
Fairfield Responds
Although Fairfield U students are often accused of living in the “Fairfield Bubble” (a constant state of ignorance toward current events), all 35 students interviewed said they knew something about the Troy Davis case. Seven out of the 35 students were pro-death penalty, three said that it was dependent upon the type of murder, and the rest thought that the death penalty was wrong in any circumstance.
The majority of students interviewed echoed Jimmy Carter’s notion that the practice of capital punishment is “unjust and outdated.” Stephanie Ferriera, a senior accounting student described the death penalty as “archaic,” and although she had only recently heard about the Davis case, she stated that “she has never really believed in the death penalty in any situation.”
Similarly, Jessica Parlon ’12 said without hesitation that she was against the death penalty and that there “seemed to be a lot of reasonable doubt in the Troy Davis trial.”
Caitlin Dydzuhn ’12 said, “I am against the death penalty because I think people should always be given the opportunity to change, and even if they won’t change, then life behind prison to me is a worse punishment anyway.”
Dydzuhn continued to echo Jimmy Carter’s statement, saying, “It was a national shame that the execution continued without substantial evidence and if I go to law school, I hope to do a death penalty clinic doing pro-bono work to help those who believe they are wrongfully convicted on death row.”
However, one sophomore criminal justice major student who wished to remain anonymous stated, “The law is the law and Davis wouldn’t have been convicted if there wasn’t tons of evidence against him. Every case has doubt, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is innocent.”
Although student opinions vary, most students expressed that there must be another way to punish criminals.
Murdering a Murderer
Although almost every aspect of human life has changed over the years, it is curious that corporeal punishment remains in some parts of the US.
One would think that a developed nation like the United States would have created a better system for dealing with criminals by now: therapy, mental health drugs, something to make people who have gone wrong human again. With all the changes in the United States. why does the death penalty remain. the same?
Think about it this way: If you wouldn’t rape a rapist, why would you murder a murderer?
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