Texas and the death penalty...

Sometimes you have to ignore the main point of an article to see the whole story. Today's New York Times had a piece about how more than 60% of all death penalty executions took place in Texas. On the surface that is highly disturbing. Texas has averaged 37% of the total number of executions over the last 30 years. To go from that to more than 60% is not good. But ignored in the article is the drop in the number of executions across the country. I used to be a firm believer in the death penalty. I still think that some crimes deserve the death penalty. But I realize that in our justice system not everyone is treated the same. And that it is possible and highly likely that innocent people have and will be put to death for crimes they did not commit. That is unacceptable. Add that to the fact that minorities and the poor are given the death sentence in more instances than other defendants has caused me to rethink my opinions. So I applaud the decline in the number of executions this past year and also the number of defendants given the death penalty. The one thing this article may do is highlight the discrepancies of how the death penalty is handed out. At least I hope that is what will happen...

Apartheid in the U.S. and Britain...

A sobering thought for sure. I am not sure how most people feel about the U.S. and Britain detaining "terrorist" suspects without trial. Archbishop Tutu have an unique view on the matter. I am not so sure I don't agree with his assessment. On the one hand I have no sympathy for terrorists. Killing innocent people is not the solution for peace. The problem is detaining suspects indefinitely without trial. If they are really terrorists than put them on trial and punish them. If they are not then let them go. Isn't that what our justice system is supposed to be about? Doesn't the sixth amendment guarantee the right to a speedy public trial? Yes, the government conveniently gets around this amendment by making them war crimes, etc.. I just thought we were better than that...