Sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott who were sentenced to life in prison for a $11.95 robbery.
Originally posted Jan. 16, 2012, at Joelle’s Stuff. Republished with permission of the author.
I didn’t really pay much attention when the hullabaloo first began over outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haily Barbour’s pardons.
I began to pay attention when I heard his defense that the convicted murderers he pardoned had committed “crimes of passion.”
It was disturbing to learn that Mississippi has a history of tolerance for “crimes of passion.” That’s often code for “He killed his wife and she probably deserved it.”
It was a little disturbing to learn eight of these men murdered their wives.
I didn’t have much luck finding out how many of those pardoned were women. There was a wealthy woman who killed two doctors while driving drunk.
Not pardoned
I do know whom he did not pardon. He did not pardon Jamie and Gladys Scott, two sisters who were paroled last year on the condition that Gladys donate a kidney to Jamie.
Jamie and Gladys were serving life sentences for being in the same car with some teenage boys who robbed someone for $11. The boys who actually did the robbery only served a couple of months in jail.
Barbour defended his pardons by saying, “You do not want to take away hope and the opportunity for a second chance, particularly when you see what our religion says.”
Second chances for wife killers — but not these women?
A lot of these so called “crimes of passion” are no better than the “honor killings” that we claim to be so outraged about when committed by people of a different culture and religion.
And it was an honor killing that Jesus stopped when he turned away the powerful men who sought to stone the woman caught in adultery. To invoke Jesus to excuse and pardon honor killing is a travesty.
No doubt there is politics involved in these pardons as in all pardons. But there’s an ugly undercurrent of sexism and misogyny going on here too, wrapped up in Christian smugness and fake piety.
Find a link to Joelle Colville-Hanson’s entry on the blog Joelle’s Stuff at Lutheran Blogs.
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What is the general frequency of wife/girlfriend/babymommy/etc killers among those seeking pardons in Mississippi? How much less than 4% (8/203 pardons) is it?
As to pardoning wife-killers (or any other type of sinner) in general, Jesus forgives far worse than that. If His mercy is really open to all, it's open to all. It doesn't matter who else is or is not being pardoned.
So far as the sisters are concerned, perhaps organizing a letter-writing campaign to the current governor asking for their pardon would be in order?
Lutherans believe in the Two Kingdoms Doctrine. Let's not confuse what the government does in the temperal sphere with what Christ does in the eternal sphere.
does the two kingdoms doctrine mean we should not be concerned with justice in this world???? Jesus also calls us to love God and love others as one commandment. It is fine to fill the world with nice words like let justice flow down like an ever flowing stream, but working for justice is helping to build the irrigation system which can bring those words into reality.
Chemnitz,
If there's any confusion of Kingdoms, it's on the part of the governor. He's the one who invoked his faith as his reason why he was using his power to pardon those people. As I understand it, Pr Joelle is challenging him at that level: If he's citing Christianity as his reason for his actions, why is he not pardoning others? She's suggesting that instead of actually pardoning sinners out of mercy, he's pardoning them because it's more acceptable to pardon wife-killers in his sexist/racist world-view than it is to pardon black bystanders.
Nor do I think it to be a confusion of the Two Kingdoms for one to work within one's community for justice. Organizing a letter-writing campaign isn't really any different than organizing Luther League games or a homeless shelter dinner.