I have not written a lot in this blog lately because I have been doing a lot of overtime at work. I also have not been able to make it out to a lot of the meetings for the Baltimore Citizens Against State Executions. So naturally, I was taken aback when I learned that Wesley Baker was executed last night. It makes me wonder if I were a little more involved in something that I believe in, the abolition of the state sanctioned homicide aka the death penalty, maybe Welsey Baker would still be alive.....

No, I am not a lawyer, politician or anything like that. I am just a regular everyday citizen who wants to end a barbaric form of so called justice. Some say that the death penalty is there to act as a deterrent against violent crimes. To the best of my knowledge the presence of the death penalty has in no way helped to decrease the murder rate. No murderer or potential murderer has ever said, 'Gee, I do not think I will shoot this person because I will get the death penalty.' Why because, murder occurs during an irrational state of mind. Lets face it the vast majority of violent crimes occur during fits of rage or desperation. These are not states of mind that could be in any way characterized as rational.

Rest in peace Wesley Eugene Baker. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family as well as the family of Jane Frances Tyson.