To Whom it may concern :

    My name is T. Scott Cothren.  I am a 26 year old Alabama death row inmate.  I've been incarcerated since December 19, 1992...the day before my 20th birthday.  In these past six years I've learned much about the so-called "Wheels of Justice."
    I would like to take this opportunity to pass along one of the ideas I've had, but no forum with which to convey them.  I hope you find this thorough and informative.
    On December 10, 1998, President Bill Clinton signed "Executive Order 13107". The order instructed all states, territories, and people of the United States to come into compliance with the U.N Declaration of Human Rights, signed into effect December 10, 1948, 50 YEARS AGO.
    The document was originally signed to promote the recognition of the worth of every human life and the dignity that everyone is entitled to maintain.  The U.S, in effect, ignored it entirely.
    When the U.S signed onto this declaration, they agreed to observe and uphold the articles therein.  The U.S government has blatantly disregarded the standards sent out in it, time after time...with the practice of capital punishment alone, over 500 times since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977.
    The Death Penalty isn't the only aspect of Criminal Justice in the U.S in violation of Human Rights.  There is also the ever increasing occurrences of police brutality, the common practice of not disclosing exculpatory evidence in criminal investigations, the manufacturing of false evidence by prosecutors, even the refusal to acknowledge the confession of another to a crime in which a person who proclaims innocence is being punished.
    My God! People, these are the officials we have entrusted with the responsibility of protecting our safety and well being!  If they are so incompetent as to be able to do their job correctly the first time, then they are completely ineffective and little more than a minor hindrance to criminal activity.
    It is not as if these people have to guess as to what they are and are not allowed to do.  The Constitution of the United States of America is a standard.  The US Supreme Court routinely distributes their rulings which affect police procedure.  There's no excuse for their abhorrent behavior!
    Back to the death penalty, there's yet another, even simpler, but important nonetheless, reason for its abolition!  Every human being on the face of this earth is redeemable! No matter what horrendous acts he's accused of, no matter how psychologically damaged, no matter what.  With enough time and devotion from a caring person, all are redeemable.
    Maybe it is due to my being on the receiving end of it, but it seems to me that as more and more death row prisoners are able to prove their innocence, more and more bills are passed to speed the appeals process and block very valuable avenues of relief.  This tends to prove that politicians refuse to depart from their most effective platform from which to incite a pointless bloodlust and send death penalty advocates running to the polls...regardless of the factual reliability (or lack thereof) of the politician and his rantings.
    I can sum up the entire mentality of the capital punishment scheme and its supporters with the name of a single town, state, and date.  Salem, Massachusetts, 1692.  A mob of townspeople slaughtered several women and girls as suspected witches.  The only proof to support this claim-a lone, trusted public officials claim, that he could prove they were witches. Unfortunately, the "proof" was that they could not survive the test of being set on fire.
    To all the abolitionists out there, let me say that I truly appreciate all your efforts, as does everyone directly and indirectly affected.
    Having said that, forgive my forwardness, but I'd like to see a more concerted effort of ALL the abolition groups of the world.  Here's where the idea I mentioned earlier comes into play.  Keep in mind that Clinton's Executive Order 13107 is the driving force of this concept and makes it plausible.
    When Clinton signed the aforementioned Executive Order, he opened the US Justice System to the UN General Assembly Scrutiny.  This should give the World Court located at The Hague jurisdiction for any claims that the US stands in violation of several human rights issues.
    The Justice System doesn't only violate the rights of death row prisoners, but, by the very aspect of your being opposed to capital punishment, they refuse you the right as a citizen of the International Community, to carry out a dignified existence, by killing your fellow man.
    If you are a citizen of the US, then you are forced to carry the stigma of a country who so frequently kills its own, even when the rest of the free world has abandoned the practice and is thriving.
    If a list can be made of all death row prisoners (and kept updated) and everyone involved in abolition work would sponsor a prisoner, we could conceivably recruit a few volunteers and file a class action lawsuit in the World Court.
    The reason action is required of abolitionists is due to communication among various death rows is limited at best, and more often entirely banned.
    If you have questions, comments. or, even more important, input on what you've just read, feel free to write me.  Thank you kindly for your time and attention in this matter.  I remain, yours truly,        T.  Scott  Cothren

   To Whom it may concern.... (April, 1999)
   Me again.  I am still on my "soapbox" about abolitionists pulling together.
    Has it occurred to anyone out there that without solidarity, slavery would never have been abolished?  I don't mean to sound ungrateful for the efforts put forth by each and every group out there.  It just seems to me that without each other, we are all just spinning our wheels.
    Here's an example of the effect of one large voice as opposed to several small ones...earlier this year in the state of Missouri, a young man by the name of Mease was living the final days before he was to be executed.  The Pope spoke on his behalf and the man spared.
    Granted, none of us are Pope John Paul, but together we are a formidable opponent against capital punishment.
    Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the US, several abolition groups have formed and attempted to end the killing.  How many executions have been stopped by these divided efforts of isolated groups?
    The US is well past the 500th execution mark.  Legislation is being passed (virtually, by the week.) to make more and more crimes punishable by death.  Prisoners coming to the row are younger and younger each time a new one comes in.  It is utterly sickening that there are kids here that, by US law, are too young to buy cigarettes, but are old enough to be executed.  Seriously, people, there are several guys here who aren't allowed to purchase tobacco products from the commissary!  They aren't old enough! 
    All arguments in support of the death penalty have been brought down over the years.  It doesn't deter other criminals, its far more expensive to execute than imprison, I have yet to hear a victims family member express satisfaction or comfort after having viewed an execution...only have I heard expressions of sadness, disheartenment, disturbance, and (in one case) even a "sickening" feeling.
    Many times, the term "closure" is used.  Having lost two people I loved very dearly, one of them to murder, it is my belief that closure can never be found in what happens to another person...it can only be found within.
    I do not wish to "minimalize" the pain and agony a victims's family goes through...it is incomprehensable to someone who hasn't experienced that loss.  I do, however, believe that it is this pain that enables otherwise kind and gentle people to think they can find solace in the death of another human being.
    Ms. Sue Norton, a woman I greatly respect and admire, is a member of Murder Victims Families For Reconciliation.  She spends much of her time educating people about forgiveness and the death penalty.  She has come to the realization that there is no way that  the death of the man that killed her parents can ever alleviate her loss.
    Here's a challenge for any death penalty supporters who may read this...imagine, if you will, that tomorrow the police barge into your house and arrest one of your family members, or even yourself.  You're accused of a horrible crime because someone saw a person that looked kind of like you.  You fit the description given the police by a witness.  You cannot afford the 75, 000 fee a decent lawyer wants to take your case.  So you're appointed an attorney with little or no experience in capital defense. Just over a year later you find yourself standing before a judge as he sentences you to death.
    Okay...now you have your appeals process.  Somewhere down the road, the actual perpetrator comes forward and confesses to the crime you're convicted of.  Guess what...if you're in the state of Virginia, it doesn't matter.  There's a 21 day time limit on presenting new evidence. (Two men have lost their lives because of this rule!)
    It is easy to believe in the reliability of a justice system when it is viewed from afar.  When you have to experience it "up close and personal,"  the lack of integrity is quite obvious.
    There will be people who point to the nine men from Illinois who were released after proving themselves innocent. First, what about the guys who haven't been so lucky? Also, there have been bills passed (specifically the Anti Terrorism  / Effective Death Penalty act) which now limit avenues for relief that were available to those guys.
    Once convicted, the burden of proof shifts greatly onto the defendant. Its no longer "innocent until proven guily," its the exact opposite.  In short, if something isn't done soon, the likelihood of more innocent men and women being put to death is greatly multiplied.  It is in inevitable that some innocents will be executed.  The limitations on avenues meant to impede the guilty also impedes the innocent.  !
    In closing, I will leave you with a lesson I heard as a child.  At the time it was in reference to brothers, but applies quite well here :  if you have three sticks of the same length and thickness, anyone of them can be easily broken.  If two are held together they become harder to break, but with just a little more pressure, they will break.  When all three sticks are held together, they can withstand virtually any amount of pressure.  The sticks become almost invincible, but more importantly, they hold up far better as a whole than they do as three.
Be well,        T. Scott Cothren
  
  For the Mothers of those on Death Row
           A writing and poem from T. Scott Cothren

As the much cherished holiday of Mother's Day approaches, my heart grows heavy with sentiment.  I would like to take this opportunity to salute all the Mom's of the world, especially the mothers of death row men and women.  Here's to lifelong support and devotion.
    The mothers of Death Row are all too often the unheard voice in the long line of victims of capital punishment.  Almost never are they even mentioned.  They deserve consolation as much as anyone.  No matter the guilt or innocence of a capital defendant...his or her mother is automatically a victim.
    Most mothers do their very best to raise their children properly, and ALL mothers believe they could have done "just a little bit better," as soon as one of her children gets into any sort of trouble.  Something about maternal instinct seems to blame themselves no matter the circumstances.  They simply should never have to endure this.
    I am not implying that mothers of murder victims aren't victims.  They are the first to have to endure the trauma of the loss of a loved one.  I am saying that neither should ever be forgotten.  For any mother to lose a child is a tragedy  beyond comprehension.
    Having said that , following is a simple, yet heartfelt poem that I wrote an hour or so after Mr. Billy Waldrop was executed December 1996.  The only thing I could think about was how his mother must have been feeling.

                                                    Final Words

                    Hey, Mr Hangman,
                     Look into my mother's eyes
                    As you pull that switch.
                    Do you hear her cries?
                    Tell me ... as her heart breaks,
                    Do you feel remorse or shame?
                    Or are you just  "doing your job"
                     By playing their little game?
                     But remember just one thing,
                     Whether done in the name
                    Of God or Man,
                     When its all over,
                    My blood is forever
                    Upon your hand!
 
                                 - T. Scott Cothren, 1996 

           PENPAL REQUEST

                 26 years old / Caucasian / 6 feet 3 inches tall / 227 lbs
                 brown hair-green eyes.  I enjoy reading anything from Montaigne
                 to Nietsche and Robin Cook to Mercedes Lackey. I love writing
                 and reading very long letters.   I write poetry, short fiction, and
                 a lot of 'adult fantasy,'.  I draw anything from landscapes to portraits
                 (from photo) to creations from my imagination.  I am seeking
                 anyone open-minded and interested in spending quite a bit of time
                 via the Postal Service.  Age, race, gender, sexual orientation are of
                 no importance to me.  I have no use for "labels."  I am openminded
                 funny, intelligent, and interested in all types of conversation.  The
                 people who have written in the past would probably tell you that I
                 tend to by blunt, to the point, and "brutally" honest.  I say exactly
                 what I mean and have no qualms about expressing my feelings.
                 If you can handle this sort of openness, you're the person I want
                 writing me. (For immediate response, enclose a stamped /
                 addressed envelope US 33 cents, all others 60 cents).
                                                Much love to all...

                   T.  Scott  Cothren
                        # Z 596 / 8D3
                        3700 Holman
                 Atmore, ALABAMA
                     36503-3700   USA