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Virginia is due to execute a woman, the first in the US state since 1912 and the first anywhere in the country for five years. But why is the execution of a woman such a significant event?
Is Teresa Lewis an unusual death row case?
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Hi Dave, I think in this case the execution is different and indeed a significant act of injustice. The woman had an IQ of 72. Under US federal law a person cannot be legally executed if they have an IQ of 70 or less. Also the woman did not actually commit murder but was alleged to be the ‘mastermind’ behind it and described as such by the Court (with an IQ of 72!). The actual murders were committed by two men who both only got life sentences. There I think is the injustice. The woman let them into the house to do the killings – her husband and stepson. One of the killers was her alleged lover – a much younger man.
Comment by Gerry — Sun 26th September 2010 @ 1:09 pm
Funny how this always happens when it’s a woman’s life that is about to be snuffed by the state.
In this case, we are to believe she is a near moron and the the plaything of two manipulative men, ie the men are the truly evil ones.
It gets so tiresome in its regularity that one can write the script in anticipation.
If there are genuine concerns for the way in which the death penalty is administered in the United States, there have been 1200 cases to choose from since it was re-introduced. Why is executing someone who measures above the clearly defined acceptable intelligence level suddenly a case of injustice – how likely is it that there have been many similar such cases already, only no-one thought to make it world news if it was a poor black guy (the overwhelming profile of those on death-row)?
The bigger story is why no-one cares that Virginia, Texas and Florida are icing men routinely, and it doesn’t make international news, but subject a woman to the same law and the media thinks it outrageous – but refuses to state the glaring disparity between the sexes. It’s as if it doesn’t exist.
If ever anyone wondered how a people could openly declare on the one hand that ‘all men are created equal’, and then go on to defend slavery, here’s how it was done. What we profess to believe always takes second place to knee-jerk sentimentality. Now that this woman is dead, has the sky fallen in? Has a great crime been committed against humanity? Or in retrospect, isn’t it just another sad case of the naked monkeys beating yet another of their number to death in a very familiar way, with no real rhyme nor reason to any of it?
Perhaps if I lived in that world where I wanted family dead and cavorted with people who would gladly arrange a death or two for me I might have a more insightful contribution to make, but failing that pardon me if I don’t shed a tear. I have larger concerns to attend to, such as weeding my garden
Comment by rc — Sun 26th September 2010 @ 7:56 pm