April 26
TEXAS:
Death penalty distraction
Re: "Switching sides on justice Exposure to horrific crime changed mind
of DA now at ease as part of state 'death machine,' " Sunday news story.
Walker County District Attorney David Weeks says that the death penalty is
justified for certain heinous crimes and that it deters criminals from
murdering again. It is true that certain crimes are heinous, but the death
penalty does nothing to reduce violent crime. It may exacerbate it. It is
clearly an expensive distraction from true crime-reducing methods.
When Texas executes someone, it becomes a killer itself, no better than
the murderer who is being executed. If there was ever a premeditated,
cold-blooded murder, it is an execution.
The criminal justice system is fraught with inconsistencies and probably
always will be. There is no way that we should allow the ultimate
punishment with such an imperfect system.
David Atwood, Houston
(source: Letter to the Editor, Dallas Morning News)