An Eye for an Eye
By: Mya Reid
Death row, Death penalty, Execution, Manslaughter. If you kill a killer the number of killers in the world remains the same. If you kill an innocent man you hang your head in shame. If you kill a man that killed no man but still guilty of something you feel relieved. The punishment known as the death penalty dates back to the 18th century B.C. and is first mention in a Mesopotamia record which talks about the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon. King Hammurabi’s Code, which was engraved on stone tablets for members of the public to see, prescribed the death penalty for over 20 different offenses. Depending on your social status, you could be executed for theft, perjury, and other crimes that today are punished much more lightly in most countries. The Code also famously prescribed that "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye." There after creating the saying an eye for an eye.
Capital punishment aka death row is a legal penalty under the United States federal government criminal justice system. One can be imposed for treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases. At the moment 22 men in Philadelphia sit on death row in Pennsylvania. Since 1973, 164 people have been exonerated from death row. In fact, for every nine executions, one death-row prisoner has been freed due to revisited evidence proving their innocence. One of which is a man named Kirk who despite having an alibi, was convicted of the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Thankfully while in prison he read about the developments of DNA testing. Afterwards he fought for the retesting of the DNA evidence in his case. And finally after eight long years, became the first capitally-convicted person in the U.S. to be exonerated by DNA testing.
Now, Pennsylvania has only executed three inmates since 1976 though the most recent execution was carried out in 1999. This makes the state of Pennsylvania one of the least active states involving the death penalty. Before you feel relieved or enlightened let me add the fact that, Pennsylvania is one of the states with the highest number of housed death row inmates. I don´t know about you but i believe this needs to change and that starts with spreading awareness along with suggested solutions.
Rodney Rodell Reed is an American American male that was convicted of murderer who was sentenced to death for the abduction, rape, and strangulation of Stacey Stites in the town of Bastrop, Texas on April 23, 1996. He has been on Texas's death row since May 1998. His conviction and death sentence remain controversial even though new developements prove him to be innocent. Change.org is a site that delivers people powered justice and Tiffany McMillan is a solid example. Tiffany is a good friend of rodney reed´s and has spent decades fighting for him. Though she took said fight to the next level when she started a petition on Change.org to save her dear friends life in an attempt to see him freed. Rodney had already been in prison for over 20 years, but new evidence pointed to his innocence. So, Tiffany saw a new opportunity and took action. Never the less the clock was quickly counting down. Despite the hiccups in his trial, Rodney was sentenced to be executed on November 20th of 2019. However massive protests built up over the time period of several months as Rodney’s execution date drew closer. Tiffany’s petition grew to over half a million signatures and soon his story made headlines in Newsweek, TIME and CBS News among many other media outlets. The intensity of the coverage put even more pressure on the state governor to take action. Which lead them to Every year, millions of people use Change.org to fix what our justice system gets wrong. They are tired of watching innocent people lose their freedom, so they turn to our site to take action. And we know these petitions work, because they’ve won before.
Another prime example is Cyntoia Brown who is an African American woman who, at the age of 16, was convicted of the murder and robbery of Johnny Michael Allen. Brown said that Allen had paid her $150 to have sex with him, and that she feared for her life during their encounter, leading her to shoot him. Though Cyntoia Brown was pardoned after a petition was signed by 375,000 supporters. Now Rodney, too, has seen the power of what we can all do when we act together.
But the fight is not over. Tiffany is still campaigning to get a full exoneration for Rodney. She won’t stop until he is released from prison. And other petition starters need the power of your voice too. Cece started a petition for Julius Jones, who is being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. Julius faces the death penalty despite evidence that suggests he was wrongly convicted. Visit CeCe’s petition today to learn more about Julius’s story. Make a difference not only in your community but also in your government or your political system. Let your voice be heard.