Texas' Death Penalty: Are We Hypocrites

I was inspired by recent articles in my classmates’ blogs about their opinions regarding the death penalty. Since this isn’t a topic I have approached yet, I thought I would write my 7^th assignment for my blog on this topic. 250-500 words on how I feel about the death penalty in Texas.

How do I feel about the death penalty? A small part of me believes that if someone commits a heinous crime such as murder, that they shouldn’t be allowed to be a part of this world. The other, larger,  part of me wonders how much better we are for killing that person? How sure are we that person is guilty? 

Some people will say “an eye for an eye”. When someone gets arrested for theft, do we steal from them? When someone gets arrested for assault, do we assault them? No, we don’t. We put them in jail, attempt to rehabilitate them and then set them free on the world again.

Here’s some statistics to keep in mind:

•  As of January 1, 2011 there were 321 inmates on death row; 127 of them African-American, 97 Caucasian, 94 Hispanic, and 4 of them Asian; 311 of them men and 10 of them women.

• There have been 10 botched executions in Texas since 1985. These botched executions caused these inmates pain, which is the opposite of what the death penalty is supposed to be doing.

•  Texas has the highest execution rate of any state with a cumulative number of executions since 1976 of 472 people. The state with next highest execution rate is Virginia with 108 people. Yet, Texas is ranked 18^th for murder rates.

The biggest aspects for me, are innocence and humanity. There have been people who were sent to death who are now found to be more than likely innocent, such as; Ruben Cantu, Cameron Todd Willingham and Carlos DeLuna. The truth is, even with all the evidence and all the witnesses, most of the time there is still a shimmer of doubt. Because of this doubt I feel that the death penalty is not our best option. It’s not our most humane option.

I don’t believe in eye for an eye. I believe in turning the other cheek. I believe in kindness, hope and love. I believe that killing these people, even though we have a solid reason (because they believed they did too), just makes us as bad as them. We condemn them for murder, and yet we commit it ourselves.

Let's Not Be Heartless

In Josh Coffman's original commentary, An Amendment to the Texas Constitution Worth Voting For, he writes about Proposition Number 1 coming up in the elections. If this proposition passes, it "will extend the homestead tax exemption to the surviving spouses of soldiers."
I feel that the author provided a very reasoned response as to why we as Texans, as humans, should have the heart to pass this proposition. The author clearly knows what he is talking about and it is evident that he researched the topic. I personally am astounded about the amount of disabled veterans in Texas and how strict the current tax exemption is for veterans.

 I would like to applaud the author for this well written and thought out article.