MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History January 17, 1977: The U.S. resumed capital punishment after a ten-year hiatus, by executing Gary Gilmore by firing squad in Utah. Check out the classic punk song, “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes,” by the Adverts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3swspID3Nxk
The U.S. is one of only 27% of the world’s nations that continue to practice capital punishment. Out of the 40 countries designated as “developed,” the U.S. is one of only four that still have capital punishment on the books. Belarus is the only European country that still practices it, as it is banned in the EU. Russia, which still has the death penalty on the books, hasn’t executed anyone since 1999. And the U.S. is one of only 11 countries that has executed children since 1990, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the U.S. has refused to ratify. In 1992, Bill Clinton refused to stay the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a cognitively-impaired man, in order to prove to the voters that he was tough on crime (and to deflect attention from his sex scandals). For his last meal, Rector asked to save his desert, pecan pie, for later, not even realizing there would be no “later” for him. In 2002, the U.S. banned execution of people with intellectual disabilities.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #deathpenalty #capitalpunishment #garygilmore #punk #firingsquad #prison #children
Carl D. Patterson