Spence, G. (1997). The needle. In G. Spence, The last word (ch. 7). New York City, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

OVERVIEW

Spence begins the chapter with a story of Willie, waiting behind the wheel of a get-away car for Derek, who, in robbing a 7-Eleven, pulls the trigger and murders the clerk. Prosecutors like Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden, and most others cry out that such criminals, who murder for $50, including accomplices, ought to die.

"But should we kill O.J.?" the chapter continues. We listen to Marcia Clark: " ‘It (the death penalty) just wasn’t an option. No jury—not even one composed of white, middle-aged Republican males—was going to sentence O.J. Simpson to death.’ "

The author’s response and commentary is biting:

That was because the death penalty is reserved for a different class. If you are black, if you have no money, if you live in ugly places, and if you kill, we will kill back. When we kill you that will teach you. But if you have been kissed in certain ways—that is, if you were kissed by Hollywood and given celebrity, or if you were kissed by God and given the genes of a great runner, or if you were kissed with the Heisman, and then Hertz kissed you, too, and the money gods kissed you—then you will not be killed, even if, as Darden confessed, ‘In thirteen years I’d never seen such a brutal murder.’

But Marcia Clark goes on:

There was an even more compelling reason for not asking for the death penalty in this case. I didn’t feel—and I don’t believe that any of my colleagues from the brass down felt—that it was warranted. Apart from the incidents of battery, Simpson did not have a prior criminal history. Over the course of his life he had not shown the kind of callous disregard for society’s rules that you look for in a hardened criminal. O.J. Simpson was not an incorrigible, nor was he a danger to society at large. Under those circumstances it would have been immoral to seek his death.

The fact is that "34% of prisoners sentenced to death had no prior felony record." These had never been arrested for possession of marijuana, for stealing a knife, or for beating a wife. So Gerry Spence argues:

...so we begin to see it clearly: The first thing to think about when the death penalty is considered is who is going to make the life-or-death decision about whether it will be invoked? The Marcia Clarks of the world, the young, the unwise, the tough, those who know all about morality, the people looking to sell books? Let’s leave the decision in the hands of the D.A.s of the country who want to be governor. How about trusting the screaming politicians who want to be reelected? It is immoral to stick the needle in O.J.’s arm for the most brutal murder to come along in thirteen years, but not immoral to get rid of the Willies of the world who can’t defend themselves. At last, is it not...immoral to leave the threshold decision on the death penalty in the hands of the likes of Marcia Clark, who argues that a celeb who beats...his wife for years and finally stabs her and her companion to death, cuts their throats down to the bone, stabs them not once but over forty times, is really a pretty good fellow when it comes right down to it?The author of this review agrees with Marcia Clark: it would have been immoral to ask for the death penalty against O.J. It is equally immoral to ask for it against Willie and all the others. If the death penalty is an instrument of ultimate justice, when it should or should not be invoked ought not be left to junior D.A.s and politicians.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Do you think O.J. was guilty of killing his wife and Goldman?
2. If he did actually do it and was convicted of it, do you think O.J. should have received the death penalty?
3. Would you ever vote for a death penalty in any conceivable case?
4. What concerns do you have about the death penalty as it is practiced in the U.S.?
5. What is your opinion about the death penalty carried out (in early February, 1998) against Karla Faye Tucker, admittedly guilty of the pickax murder of two persons, who spent 12 years in prison, experienced a "born again" religious experience, and who wanted to spend the rest of her life in prison helping other prisoners through the chaplain’s office? (The Pope, Pat Robertson, and many religious and amnesty organizations pled for her life.)
6. What is your opinion of Gerry Spence’s argument above?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Capital punishment is an issue about which young people are interested. Along with abortion and other ethical issues, it has to do with a society’s basic respect for life (both victim and murderer).
2. Any serious consideration of capital punishment has to look at law and criminal justice, as well as the moral and philosophical foundations of our legal system. Theories of social punishment: revenge, deterrence, and rehabilitation, must enter such a discussion. In addition, criminal justice studies weighing the effectiveness of capital punishment must be taken into account.
3. The teachings of the Koran, the Jewish Scriptures, and the Bible have been interpreted differently by scholars of these faiths. Still, we must help young people relate their faith to ethical issues even in issues that are complex and where there is not total agreement or certainty.