So often we hear politicians on the campaign trail tout their law and order credentials, seeking to garner votes based on a commitment to be tougher on crime than their opponents. This plays well in a sound-bite mentality, but what does that really mean? Is it as simple as politicians tend to make it sound -- someone breaks the law, they should pay?
I am certainly not opposed to individuals having to face the consequences of their actions, but when does such linear thinking cease to make sense? As much as it is portrayed to the contrary, the law, like everything else in society, is not always black and white. Consider the case of Flozelle Woodmore.
When Woodmore was 18-years-old, she killed her longtime boyfriend, Clifton Morrow, in self-defense in 1986. For roughly five years, she says, he had repeatedly beaten her in public and behind closed doors, even while pregnant. The day Morrow was murdered, he had not only attacked Woodmore, but threatened to kill her son and had slammed the two-year-old against a wall. "I started screaming at him," Woodmore said, "he knocked me down and I went and got my purse." She had hidden a gun belonging to her stepfather. Woodmore fatally shot Morrow in the chest.
Though Woodmore believed she had acted to save herself and her son, the justice system at the time offered her little recourse. (Prior to 1992, abuse was not allowed in court as a mitigating circumstance.) She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life. She remains incarcerated at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla.
While in prison, Woodmore has obtained her GED, served as a president of Alcoholics Anonymous, participated in many self-help groups, earned numerous vocational certificates and is a mentor to many other domestic violence survivors in prison. She has not received any disciplinary write-ups while in prison.
For the past six years, including this year, Woodmore appeared before the state's parole board; and each time the board members found her fit for release. But in the five previous years, the governor -- first Gray Davis and now Arnold Schwarzenegger -- overruled the board's judgment.
In 2006, Schwarzenegger overrode the parole board's judgment stating: "The gravity of the murder committed by Ms. Woodmore remains a sufficient basis for me to conclude presently that her release from prison would pose an unreasonable public-safety risk."
Using language similar to that of his predecessor, the governor pulls out the law and order straw man, creating a false dichotomy that simply cannot stand up to the facts. Shouldn't the public's point of view also carry some weight?
The sexual, physical and psychological abuse that Woodmore sustained, beginning at age 13, has been corroborated in sworn statements by neighbors and friends who were eyewitnesses. Moreover, support for her release includes the sentencing judge and the victim's family. I understand the last time Davis denied Woodmore's request, he was in the midst of a recall election; and it would be hardly prudent for a politician to do the right thing when his or her own political fortunes are on the line. But Gov. Schwarzenegger is not bound by such inconveniences. He has until Aug. 10 to decide whether or not to override the parole board's decision.
Woodmore has already spent 18 years behind bars. The practical concerns of California's prison overcrowding, the cost to house inmates and her exemplary record while incarcerated should suffice. Justice cannot be so blind that it can't see the Flozelle Woodmores, who after years of abuse, now languish behind bars.
I challenge the readers of this column to not simply take my word for it. Go online and research Woodmore's case. If the myriad articles written this decade convince you that she has more than paid her debt to society, I urge you to call or write the governor before he decides to once again override the parole board's decision -- he needs to hear from you.
The governor can be reached at (916) 445-0873, e-mailed here, or fax him at (916) 445-4633.
Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or leave a message at (510) 208-6417.