Was Stanley Tookie Williams guilty? I have no idea. Is the system fair to all citizens? No. Was this a basis for Governor Schwarzenegger to commute Mr. Williams' term to life in prison? Absolutely. It would be nice if comic book characters really had great courage. To those of us who read the adage that "truth is stranger than fiction" may be close to the mark. It's interesting to note that the Governor's native country Austria does not employ the death penalty and if he governed there he could not have confirmed a death sentence. Mr. Schwarzenegger is after all only a politician. We needed a statesman.
Running keyword searches in the AED I found the terms, death, murder, hanging, execution and McDade [reference to capital cases before 1900] that offer few conclusive observations. The 19th century appears to have been more violent than earlier centuries and war periods the most violent. Lincoln is well known for commuting the sentences of many condemned. He clearly considered history and circumstance. Were he a judge in America today in most states his hands would be tied. We remember his courage and intelligence but today we would limit his power to exercise judgment.
Lest it go unnoted Tookie Williams is probably a unique figure in American letters. Before he went to prison the only thing he may have written were bad checks. In prison, in time, he became a different man, an author of nine books about his experiences and perspective with his co-author and editor Barbara Becnel. He was five times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
For anyone who wonders if serious crime is a recent phenomena I ran keyword searches in the AED by various periods and found, as it says in Ecclesiates "there is nothing new under the sun."
| Death | Murder | Hanging | Execution | McDade | |
| 1493 to 1600: | 350 | 12 | 10 | 62 | 0 |
| 1601 to 1700: | 1307 | 86 | 11 | 190 | 0 |
| 1701 to 1725: | 772 | 63 | 6 | 76 | 10 |
| 1726 to 1750: | 701 | 49 | 9 | 71 | 1 |
| 1751 to 1775: | 972 | 161 | 10 | 202 | 1 |
| 1776 to 1790: | 527 | 73 | 21 | 117 | 3 |
| 1791 to 1800: | 1314 | 138 | 17 | 148 | 5 |
| 1801 to 1810: | 422 | 131 | 17 | 61 | 3 |
| 1811 to 1820: | 469 | 198 | 4 | 70 | 5 |
| 1821 to 1830: | 403 | 316 | 10 | 63 | 9 |
| 1831 to 1840: | 346 | 164 | 15 | 104 | 19 |
| 1841 to 1850: | 627 | 249 | 12 | 67 | 20 |
| 1851 to 1860: | 611 | 199 | 28 | 150 | 15 |
| 1861 to 1870: | 905 | 220 | 30 | 143 | 11 |
| 1871 to 1880: | 260 | 116 | 62 | 61 | 17 |
| 1881 to 1890: | 305 | 79 | 42 | 68 | 3 |
| 1891 to 1900: | 359 | 69 | 38 | 20 | 6 |
