Is the Death Penalty really the Way to Go?

A few of my classmates has recently put in a blog covering the death penalty. One of them is by Nayaram whose blog could be visited at Texas, O Texas. In the beginning she gives a quote from the Jamail Center for Legal Research. By paraphrasing, the quote states that Texas district courts would have original jurisdiction for all criminal felony cases. The State could decide to give an individual the punishment of death, if they are convicted of a capital felony. In order to reach a capital felony, one would have to “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual,” under special circumstances.”

Nayaram then gives reasons to abject this statement by sharing her opinions on the matter. She feels that the death penalty “is an easy way out of the problem for not only the government, but also, the person that committed the crime.” Nayaram also understands the reasons to have the death penalty. One example is the expenses to harbor a prisoner. She is absolutely right. According a PBS article, the average yearly cost per prisoner in the U.S. in 2001 was $22,650. Regardless of facts, she believes that freeing inmates “from a lifetime of guilt and suffering in a small cell isn’t justice. Sentencing them to a lifetime in prison has far more penalizing repercussions.” I could understand her reasoning and agree with the no death penalty, but I might look at it differently.

To fix the problem, Nayaram suggested concentrating on repairing the problems now. She says, “If we work on improving the stability of their [inmates] psyche, making them mentally healthy, it will prevent problems from arising later, whether it is them, their children, or their grandchildren.” There are jails where inmates could decide to come in for rehabilitation. This is a long term commitant that ask them to retell their crime among peers. In the end of the rehabilitation process, the inmate visits the victim’s family. I believe that there should not only be an rehabilitation for inmates, but we should also focus on rehabilitating the victim’s families. More specifically we need to learn how to heal through reconciliation, forgiveness.

There was an interesting article called “An Argument Against Allowing the Families of Murder Victims to View Executions,” by Michael Lawrence Goodwin. He says that families generally give one or two reasons to attend an execution. One is to have an opportunity for closure. Other family members may view their presence in the execution chamber as a final opportunity to represent their murdered family member in the criminal justice process. Does viewing the execution really heal or does it make it worst? No matter what I don’t believe one could simple have closure with a violate loss of a love one. However, there is a different between carrying the burden with you to allowing the burden to consume you. This article is a fairly easy read with real quotes from people that has live through it. The quote that jumped out at me was to the second general reason to view the execution. One mother said, “It’s the last thing we can do for the girls…It’s not going to be easy, but it may help us,” as she prepares to watch the execution of her daughter’s killer.

I can’t help, but to make a connection from this quote to another. They said that “Healing has to be bigger and better than reducing ourselves to participating in gruesome acts.” This was by Brooks Douglass who had a sense of satisfaction after meeting with George Ake, the other man convicted of killing his parents. I agree with his statement though. If you do something, do it all the way and don’t just stop for less. Like me writing this blog. Man… I am way over due with this. I already have what I need to get a good grade (I hope). Now I’m just slowly torturing the people who are foolish enough to continue to read this. Hahaha Well, all I’m saying is that forgiveness is a powerful thing. Not a lot of people can do it. I can only imagine how big a burden it would be if it where to fall on my shoulders. I'm still blessed to have all my grandparents along with the rest of REALLY BIG family. If we execution the inmate before we give them a chance to decide to go into rehabilitation, then that visit between the killer and the victim’s family will never happen. The memory of the love one is too great to end it with a bloody act.

I’ll end it with a powerful story… Step by Step A Jounrey of Hope: Marietta Jaeger

Trying to understand Texas Judiciary system #5

There was a quote from Frank Zappa that I found a little interesting. It says how "The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced." I agree with this statement when I think about the Texas Judiciary system to a certain degree. It is after all the least visible or least understood branch in the Texas Government. I just feel that the Texas County Court Structure is a little redundant and how interwoven they are to one another.

In Texas, there are courts that keeps records and complete transcript. Many of the courts are not up to date with technology and still has a paper file system. More importantly there are different county courts that could overlap one another. There is the Constitutional county courts that can deal with civil actions between $200-$10,000. The difference between constitutional county courts and Statutory county courts for civil members is $300. The Statutory courts's civil members is between $500-$100,000. Then Texas throws in the District courts that can do civil actions over $200. There are different quailties to each of these courts, but the civil members are pretty much the same. It could be a simple way to fall under a certain court instead of another. I just believe that less is more. This overlapping is one reason why the Judiciary system could be so confusing.

Creaters of voter impersonation bill wants it to die. #4

There is a online blog article written by Phillip Martin called Voter ID bill Out of committee: Smith Believes it Will Fail (Just Like He Wanted). Martin's intended audience leans more towards the more liberal crowd of Austin. He is very open to how he feels towards the Republicans in the House by saying things like "crazy right-wing" or "pathetic republican leadership". Phillip Martin credibility is a senior adviser as on of the Burnt Orange reporters.

Martin's claim is how the Republicans created the voter suppression legislation and always wanted the bill to fail. He supports this claim by using quotes from a Republican leader named Todd Smith. One of those quotes shows Smith say, "We got a choice to make. Do we want to pass a bill or make a statement? And it's clear to me that some members that simply want to make a statement. They're not interested in passing a bill." Phillip then follows up on the quote saying that the House Republicans, and only House republicans, are the ones blocking any compromise on this legislation. There has been compromises for weeks by Rep. Anchia and Democrat Rep. Joe Heflin, but it still wouldn't do anything. We see this because Bonnen only voted against the bill once he saw that Heflin had voted for it. Phillip's logic to this means that Heflin couldn't have killed the bill even if he voted "no".

There is only a few things I disagree with Phillip. I'm not sure if I would go so far as to say that the Republican Party of Texas refuses to move an inch and doesn't show any "good efforts on anything". It is a very general point of view. However, I believe there are other election issues that should be addressed above voter impersonation. One example is how provisional ballot rejection rates in Texas are almost 80% where the average for the rest of the country is 20%.

Texas Judges being Elected

Since the 1870s, voters have elected Texas judges. Texas is among seven others states that select its judges in partisan political elections. There have been a growing concern over the years by government groups that Texas judges are accepting campaign contributions from lawyers and businesses that appear in their courts. This is a issue that reaches the ordinary citizens to as far as the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson. This is a very difficult problem to solve and can not be fixed over night. However, there are some ways we could solve the problem improving the election system we have already.
It is very difficult to change the system for Texans elected judges with a constitutional amendment approved by two-thirds of the Senate and the House. Then it would require a majority of voters to approve the legislation. This would take more power from the ordinal citizen and their voice in government. Electing Texas judges through the voters would also give some accountability to the process. We could modify the election process by not allowing the judges to declare a political party on the ballot. This would allow judges to have more freedom to do the right thing and not feel pressured to make a unpopular choice by out side sources.

A Demand for the Fine Arts

A under the radar issue has been addressed in one of my classmates blog titled Texas, O Texas. The article argues that the public school districts in Texas do not have a strong enough requirement for the fine art departments. I agree with her arguments and how she puts things in prospective.

In the beginning of the article, a statement from the Texas Education Code was used. It explained how "Each district shall ensure that all children in the district participate actively in a balance curriculum designed to meet individual needs." The author makes the distention that Fine Arts courses are Enrichment courses and not in the same category of math and science which are Foundation courses. By using the quotes from the Texas Education Code, the author then makes the connection that dance, music, art, and theater are also in the guidelines and are require by law that all school districts must deliver instruction on all subjects.

The author uses personal opinion in the rest of the article to explain the importance of music. As an musician and photographer, the author gives interesting insight on how big an influence music has in our everyday lives. There are examples the author gives that shows the deeper meaning of music and how it could be used as a perfect outlet for individual expression.

I agree with the author completely. Through art we are able to discover ourselves or it could be used to find common ground with others. In the end, the author recommend that "Texas and every other state in the nation, as well as every country in our world need to demand and ensure that people, and especially children, receive more formal art instruction in their life." Music could do many thing like improving a child's early cognitive development, basic math, reading abilities, and self-esteem. More importantly music could help us be successful in life. We see this in a quote by Daniel A. Carp, Eastman Kodak Company Chairman and CEO, which states, "Music is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge for connecting with others. Through music, we can introduce children to the richness and diversity of the human family and to the myriad rhythms of life."

Nowadays the people are pushing for stronger public education to give a bringer future for their children. I believe the arts education programs are able to help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century.

Give Texas homeowners foreclosure safeguards

The author of the editorial, Give Texas homeowners foreclosure safeguards, talks about one of the biggest problems in Texas. The intended audience for this editorial is towards Americans that are trying to balance their budget between mortgages and everyday necessities. The state has one of the shortest notice periods of 20 days before they foreclose on property. The author is in favor of the Senate Bill 472 and how it would extend the notice period to 45 days. The bill also gives homeowners 31 days to vacate the property after it is sold in a foreclosure procedure. The author claims that there are “unscrupulous lenders who take advantage of buyers and bottom feeders who target people who fall behind on their mortgages.” The bill won’t stop foreclosures completely, but it will give homeowners who fall behind in their mortgage payments a fighting chance. I agree with the author, because it gives more time for homeowners to try and save their homes.

World Changing Influence for Science

Since the launch of Sputnik in the 1950s, there has been a strong support from the government to help U.S. students stay competitive in math and science. But we see in recent studies that the U.S. is falling behind in the world as the number of engineers’ decreases. In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act was meant to put accountability in schools to ensure students to “achieve proficiency” in reading and math by 2014. It left each state to define what proficiency means. As a result, the law gives the false impression of creating a national accountability system. Texas has set our proficiency standards low, when the Texas’ TAKS passing score is relatively lower compared to other states’. This means that the federal system in one state could give a stamp of approval to a school, when it is considered a failure in another.
In the quest for higher education, we see how one individual makes a huge influence to improve science and engineering. The article Gift from W.A. ‘Tex’ Moncrief Jr. will underwrite science and engineering research talks about how the University of Texas will benefit from Moncrief’s enormous act of generosity.