Many of you know who Stanley Tookie Williams is, I am sure. Being a Criminal Justice Major, this is a case that my ethics class has been looking at this semester.

First my opinion. Do I think he deserved full clemency...That would be a no. Based on the amount of victims there have been in the years since the Crips was founded, he should not be given clemency. Even though he did not kill them, rape them, violate them, take their childhoods from them, take family members away, rob them, burglarize them or terrorize them personally...what he started has and that makes him indirectly responsible for the actions that have occurred.

I do think however that his sentence needs to be re-looked at. He is the model of what the Criminal Justice System is supposed to do. The system is not so much in place for retribution as it is for rehabilitation. Punishment is only a small part. The biggest is rehabilitation. He has shown that he has been rehabilitated. Does that mean he is safe enough to walk the streets? Who knows, all I know is I do not feel he deserves to be free. Nor do I feel he deserves to die.

He has done everything that has been asked. He has became a model prisoner, and has spoke out and reached out to the kids who may be looking at a life within a gang. To me that is a lot. I feel that there is so much more that he can do, that he would be able to do, if he were not scheduled to die in the wee hours of the 13th. He has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize. He continues to fight against gangs, with his website, and his book...

But that still does not change that indirectly he has been involved in so much crime. So much pain. So much anger, torment, loss, and sadness. There are so many victims out there and many who do not even realize that they are victims, because of something he helped to start.

Reading the Gov. words about why he denied clemency, I simply shake my head. He doesn't get it. This man has done everything that he has been able to to show remorse. To make things right. His life should be spared. But instead of doing what is right, there is a decision made to uphold the courts decision. The same courts who refused to reopen the case to allow DNA evidence to be presented. The same courts who have denied his motions time and time again.

Tonight, I will say a silent prayer, that his death will be quick. That he will feel no pain. But I know he will. I know about death sentences. I know how inhumane they really are. But still, I will pray that his GOD takes him quickly, and sees the good that has came from so much bad. Sees the man he became instead of the tormentor he once was.