Novel program gives insight into controversial issue

Gasper, chair of the philosophy and religion department, hoped the novel program would give the students insight into a very controversial issue. He didn't realize many of the lessons might be playing out in local courts.

"There's been a lot of talk about Peterson and then Beardslee came up right at the end ... it's given a little more immediate focus around the things we've done and are planning," Gasper said.

The program, held by the Center for Social Justice, includes a series of class assignments and extracurricular events modeled on the common theme of capital punishment. Students read books such as "Dead Man Walking" by Sister Helen Prejean and discuss the social, moral and political aspects of the topic in classes.

In the fall, a panel of two supporters and two opponents hashed out the issue before students. October saw the world premier of a play based on Prejean's book, complete with appearance by famous opponents like actors Sean Penn and Mike Farrell. Soon after, a concert was held of music composed in a Nazi concentration camp and a gallery exhibit of prisoner art hosted by an exonerated death row inmate from Oklahoma.

"We are trying to look at the death penalty from an analytical perspective as well as the sociological and philosophical. We thought it would be interested to also look at the dramatic and artistic side," Gasper said.

In early February, Gasper hopes to arrange a phone call between death row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams, his children's book collaborator Barbara Becnel and students. On March 12, Prejean returns for a final miniconference to wrap up the program.

About half of the school's 1,700 undergraduates have participated in at least some aspect of the program, Gasper estimated. Next year's theme will be just as broad and potentially controversial: civil rights.

The program doesn't aim to tell students what to think but give them the tools to decide.

Field trip to an execution

Some students may also get an experience university faculty didn't initially expect in the lesson plan: a field trip to an actual execution.

Gasper and a colleague have taken 10 to 20 students with them to previous executions at San Quentin Prison in Marin County. If Beardslee's Jan. 19 date holds, Gasper expects to make the trip again.

The students won't have access to the death itself but do spend hours outside the prison amid protesters and supporters. The next day, they undergo a debriefing to talk about what they saw and absorb what they learned.

"It's a fairly dramatic experience for them. People go who are already opposed to it and there are those who have never given it much thought before. Everybody finds it a very somber experience," Gasper said.

Despite his repeated trips, Gasper said each experience is different for him, too.

The execution of a black Vietnam veteran drew family members who explained the heritage. A Native American inmate's execution involved a ceremonial circle.

"Every atmosphere is different. And in California there aren't many [executions] so it hasn't become [routine] as in Texas," Gasper said.

A Nobel effort

When Gasper arrived in California in 1992, the state was getting ready to execute Robert Alton Harris for murdering two teenage boys. The pending April 21 death whipped up public frenzy over the horrific nature of his murders and the 25-year gap since a condemned inmate was put to death.

Gasper, who had never before lived in a place with sanctioned executions, began his odyssey as an ardent capital punishment opponent and continually works on behalf of Crips founder and children's author Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

A member of Swiss parliament nominated Williams for the Nobel Prize in 2000 and Gasper took over the nomination process the last three times since. He plans to do it again this year, believing Williams' efforts in reaching out to gang members and children help mitigate the violence that sent him to death row in the first place.

"I've had a pretty interested positive response by people intrigued by the fact somebody on death row has the strength of character to write a series of books and influence other potential gang members," he said.

Williams could be called next in line for lethal injection anytime, Gasper said. The immediacy makes the possible connection between he and the student body that more important.

Beardslee

Unlike Williams or Kevin Cooper - the condemned inmate who garnered widespread support before a federal stay of execution last year, Beardslee can't claim a prison history of outstanding deeds. Nor can he protest his innocence. Beardslee admitted killing two young women over a soured drug dealer two decades ago although he claims co-defendants were just as culpable.

The question of innocence is what draws many people to oppose capital punishment, Gasper said, but cases like Beardslee's are just as important to consider.

"It's a different type of argument of the nature of the whole death penalty system, the uneven way it is applied and the mitigating and aggravating factors. There is no scientific way to balance those, so you have to ask people to look at the bigger picture," Gasper said.

The future

Gasper predicts California and the nation may one day do away with capital punishment altogether. Polls show support continually dropping as does the number of death sentences imposed by juries.

Lethal injection was adopted by states looking to sidestep the cruel and unusual label but Gasper believes one day it, too, will be widely considered inhumane.

"Now many people think that hanging is kind of a grotesque way but it was once widely accepted. Each new method is supposed to be more humane but I suppose sometime in the future we will look aghast at them, too," he said.

Despite widespread publicity of the Peterson case - a white middle-class man convicted of killing his wife and unborn son - the majority of the condemned continue to be poor minorities. Like many death penalty opponents, Gasper believes Peterson's case may have shined a light on those statistics.

He is also waiting to see future action on where the state draws the line for executing the mentally retarded and other draconian legal structures such as the mandatory minimums set by the Three Strikes Law.

In the spring, Gasper may offer his perspectives to students by teaching a class on the American justice system as a whole. In particular, he noted the United States has about 25 percent of the world's prison population.

"The death penalty always has a strong political aspect and is part of the whole tough on crime mentality. We need to look for criminal justice solutions that aren't just harsh and punitive but help absolve other underlying problems," Gasper said.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.