Deathwatching

I teach a restorative justice class. In the early days of class I ask students to talk about an experience of victimization. Sadly, every student has little difficulty coming up with a story. Sometimes the stories are of fairly minor offences, graffiti on an apartment building one is manager of for example. Others are much more serious: the loss of treasures from inside a car which is burgled, or even sexual abuse. I ask students to tell us what happened as a result of the offence and whether the response met their needs. Do they have outstanding needs now? In almost every case, whether the criminal justice system was involved or not, my students still experience feelings of guilt, loss, or grievance. Sometimes not just because of the offence, but these feelings may be compounded by the way the authorities responded.

This has led me to believe that the crime continues to unfold in the mind of the student. They continue to have questions that are not answered, feelings that are unresolved.

In Howard Zehr’s book Changing Lenses which I was reading at the gas station today while the attendant filled my car (he was too busy to talk as we usually do), he speaks of the focus our criminal justice system puts on guilt and punishment. He suggests that we think of justice as a redressing of a wonky balance caused by the crime. Instead, he recommends that we focus on harm.

Going back to my student victims, it appears that our listening and empathizing and showing sympathy is helpful. Here we are focused on the harm and the victim. We are giving our attention and validating the hurt feelings. This makes me think that justice is also unfolding and is not as much about redressing balance as it is about rebuilding trust. Sometimes the offender can help with that. But always we community members stepping forward makes a huge difference. What I see in my students is that the comfort restores their sense of what is right and they are able to let go of some of their bitterness and resentment sometimes.

I keep wondering what would happen to the death penalty if we really showed up for victims’ family members. While some seem quickly to relinquish hate and vengeance. Others get so stuck. Could we love them and comfort them to wholeness such that dealing in pain was no longer necessary for them?

I have appeared to be absent when in fact I have had difficulty posting here with several posts being lost. I am keeping this short to make sure the problem is solved.

This is the first post in a series to discuss lethal injection as a humane method of execution.

Currently, several states are practising a de facto moratorium on executions due to doubts about the efficacy of the chemical cocktail administered, both its adequacy for the job, and the qualifications of the personnel present to monitor the experience of the condemned person being executed to ensure that the execution could not be defined as cruel under the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. In this series of posts I want to investigate the search for humane methods of execution, the execution protocol, evidence of botching, the nature of the choice prisoners make when methods in their state change and they are allowed to choose the method by which they will be executed, and some of the evidence from Oregon related to this issue including perspectives gleaned from the Listening Project.

I will welcome questions and comments.

My name is Rachel Cunliffe Hardesty. I live in Oregon, USA and have been involved in a project to discover the meaning of the death penalty to Oregonians for the past 8 years.

My primary methodology is a variation of a listening project, where I meet in a variety of venues with people to whom the death penalty matters.

This is my blog. Here I will tell you some of the stories I have heard in my travels around the state, ponder some of the ideas that have come to me as a result, and relate my work on the ground to the wider national and international context experienced through media, study, and connections with people involved in that bigger milieu.

My aim is to use this writing space to further my thinking, and to broaden the dialogue about the death penalty through knowledge of the impact it has on one particular community in America.