The execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, co-founder of the west coast gang the Crips, has been set for December 13, 2005 at one minute past midnight.
At the center of most argments supporting capital punishment is the premise that the guity cannot be rehabilitated. Big Took - as he is known in some circles, for obvious reasons (see above picture) - has become a global voice for peace since his incarceration. Two Newark gangs, collectively responsible for 34 homocides in four months, signed a peace treaty based on an initiative from Took's website. In London, he is featured in anti-gang advertising in print magazines and in two different public service announcements in the states. He has authored nine children's books discouraging violence and gang activity and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times.
If ever there were a poster child for rehabilitated death row inmates it is Tookie Williams.
Arnold is not going to pardon Big Took. I'd love to see it, but I just don't think it's going to happen. His approval ratings are in line with our president, so he can't really afford to appear soft on crime. Clemency for Williams would only alienate his base. Yet can he risk L.A. burning like Paris?
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