On the night of July 11, South Dakota executed Elijah Page. He was the first person executed by the state in 60 years.
Over 100 people turned out to protest the execution.
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Page was killed by a lethal injection. The execution was originally set for last year. Governor Mike Rounds postponed the execution because of concerns over the drugs used in the lethal injection.
Page was convicted in 2000 for the death of Chester Allan Poage. Page, 18 at the time, confessed to the murder.
In January 2006, Paged waved his rights to appeal the death sentence.
Like many on death row in the United States, Page grew up in dire poverty. He had endured a history of extreme abuse and neglect. At the age of two, Page’s mother allowed him to be sexually molested in exchange for drugs. He was in and out of foster homes and juvenile detention centers his entire life.
A judge, not a jury, sentenced Page to death. There are currently three other prisoners on death in row in South Dakota, including Briley Piper, who was convicted of the same crime as Page.
Thirty-eight states have passed laws legalizing the death penalty since the Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. Only four states have not executed anybody in that time: Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York. Texas has executed 397 people since 1976.
The death penalty is promoted by ruling class supporters as a so-called deterrent to crime, but in reality it is a way for the capitalist class to kill working-class people, especially African Americans.
Elijah Page was a victim of capitalism: a system of greed, poverty and alienation.
