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After Oklahoma City

Execution Delay: Attorney General Ashcroft announces a one-month delay in the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
(5/11/01)

Death Penalty update:
Americans changing opinion on the death penalty. (5/10/01)

Kids and Crime:
The youngest person ever convicted of murder is sentenced to death.
(1/14/00)

McVeigh and the death penalty:
A NewsHour discussion on the sentence of Timothy McVeigh.
(6/4/97)

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Death Penalty on Hold:
Illinois examines their use of the death penalty. (2/22/00)

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The Death Penalty Information Center

Truth in Justice

National Criminal Referal Service

The ACLU and the Death Penalty

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Pro-Death Penalty.com

Classroom activities:

Curriculums on the death penalty

PBS Frontline: "The "Executioner"

Legal punishment or murder?
May 16, 2001

The adults and children who visited the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 had no idea they would witness the largest act of terrorism in the United States. At 9:02 that morning, a bomb destroyed half the building within seconds, killing 168 people.

The crime was blamed on foreign terrorists until it was learned that an American was the mastermind behind the crime, 29-year-old Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh.

After an emotional trial attended by several victims' families, McVeigh was found guilty and sentenced to die by lethal injection. When he dies, McVeigh will be the first federal prisoner put to death in 38 years.

The years since his 1997 sentencing have been very emotional for the families and also for anti-death penalty activists who had hoped to put an end to public executions.

An emotional debate

Just as the survivors, the media and the nation were getting ready for McVeigh's death, Attorney General John Ashcroft delayed the execution until June 11, after learning that the FBI had not turned over all its evidence to McVeigh's lawyers.

Although McVeigh's lawyers now have a few more weeks to appeal, prosecutors say the delay will not stop McVeigh from being put to death. The delay does give both sides more time to air their arguments about the death penalty in general.

The death penalty is legal in 38 states. Supporters say it's a simple case of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," a phrase that comes from the Bible.

In other words, if you take a life, the state can take your life. Supporters of the death penalty also say that fear of the ultimate punishment stops people from committing crimes.

Lawyer and death penalty supporter Robert Blecker calls it "justifiable homicide."

Other people say that killing someone is simply wrong, and the government should not do it, no matter how great a crime the person may have committed. They say the U.S. justice system shouldn't be based on primitive instincts of revenge.

"Violence should not be the answer to violence," said Bonnie Bucqueroux, a death penalty opponent, in a NewsHour interview. "You know, as Gandhi said, if we get down to an eye for an eye, we get down to a nation of the blind."

"What we are seeing is a return to sort of ginning up support for blood lust… pandering to the idea that vengeance is really the answer to our problems in the culture."

But Blecker and others disagree. "There is a very big difference between retribution and vengeance, although many people equate them," he said in a NewsHour interview.

"Vengeance need not be directed specifically at the one responsible. Vengeance need not have any limit. Retribution, which is not the same thing as vengeance or revenge, is limited, directed, proportionate response. So this is not a blood lust."

Witnessing Death

One key issue in the McVeigh case has been media coverage of the execution. Usually, only a few witnesses and victims' relatives are allowed to attend an execution. The execution usually happens quietly, with no live TV coverage.

But after pressure from the families, Ashcroft ruled in early April to allow all survivors to watch McVeigh die on a closed television broadcast. Almost 300 of the 2,000 or so survivors and victims' relatives decided they want to watch.

This is the first time the Justice Department has had to make special arrangements for such a large group of crime victims to watch an execution.

Ashcroft said the special arrangement was made out of consideration for the families but the government has no plans to broadcast federal executions in the future.

None of the people involved in the case want executions to become entertainment. It is a national embarrassment that in the last century, white crowds gathered to watch public executions of blacks in this country -- and brought picnics and took souvenir photographs at the killing.

Recent controversy

Americans have been and still are deeply divided about the death penalty. The McVeigh case has upset many people because of the horrible nature of his crime and his absolute lack of remorse.

In a recent interview, McVeigh said the 19 children killed in the blast were "collateral damage" -- meaning they got in the way of his mission -- and did not express any sorrow or regret for taking their lives.

Overall, more that 81 percent of Americans say McVeigh should be executed for killing 168 innocent people. A recent poll shows that of the 38 percent of Americans who say they oppose the death penalty, more than half now believe McVeigh should be executed anyway.

Public support for McVeigh's execution, however, runs counter to a growing skepticism about the death penalty in general. Several prisoners on death row were recently found innocent through DNA testing and other evidence.

In Illinois, 13 prisoners headed for execution were freed when new evidence showed they were innocent. Gov. George Ryan said the state government came dangerously close to killing innocent men. All the state's executions are now on hold so the government can make sure the death penalty is being applied fairly.

Nearly 20 other states are considering similar investigations, including the No. 1 death penalty state: Texas. That state has put to death 246 people since 1982.

President Bush, a strong death penalty supporter, presided over 152 executions as Texas governor. He has said he strongly opposes halting any executions.

Another concern is that black and Hispanic inmates appear more likely to be sentenced to death than white inmates convicted of the same crime. In fact, according to a report by the Justice Department at President Clinton's request, 80 percent of death penalty cases submitted by federal prosecutors were against minority defendants.

Overall, more than 3,700 prisoners are awaiting execution in the U.S. Meanwhile, activists on both sides are waiting to see if the McVeigh case changes public opinion.

Many wonder if the U.S. is moving toward a serious re-examination of whether putting people to death is still a good way to deter crime or a throwback to a less civil society.

What do you think? What do you think should be the highest penalty in our justice system?