Schwarzenegger and the Politics of Death
by TChris
Politicians fear being perceived as “soft on crime,” but those perceptions may be misplaced. While governors in recent years have too rarely exercised their power to spare inmates from execution, angry voters generally haven’t punished governors who commute a death sentence.
In the decade since 1993, 15 governors have granted clemency in capital punishment cases, mostly on humanitarian grounds. Only one of the governors failed to win re-election. In nearly every case, the approval ratings of the governors who granted clemency remained steady or climbed.
As Gov. Schwarzenegger considers the fate of Tookie Williams, he should be comforted by the realization that his plummeting popularity isn’t likely to be further impaired by granting clemency. If Schwarzenegger’s miserly approach to clemency is based on political fear, the fear is groundless.
He flatly said that clemency should not be used to undo the judgment of the people, and that he'd spare a life only when there is absolute legal and clinical proof that a condemned killer was insane. That shoves the clemency bar past the point of relevance.
Popular governors of the past adopted a more humane approach.
But clemency won't be the death knell for Schwarzenegger's re-election bid. Nor was it for the governors who granted clemency during the 1950s and 1960s, when the death penalty was commonly used. In those years, governors granted clemency to roughly one in four death-row inmates. California Gov. Pat Brown topped that rate. During the late 1950s and 1960s, with no public outcry, Brown granted clemency to one out of three death-row inmates.
Schwarzenegger should learn from his predecessors. Except for the rapidly-shrinking “kill ‘em all” crowd, voters respond well to compassion and humanity. Williams’ case gives Schwarzenegger a chance to prove that he has those qualities.
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