May 17
TEXAS:
Why death penalty is wrong
Re: "Systemic guilt — I put a man away for a crime he didn't commit, says
James A. Fry," Friday Viewpoints.
If 17 death row inmates have been proven innocent because of advances in
DNA testing, it would be absurd to think that none of the 260 people
executed in Texas in the last 10 years was innocent. Hard data show
capital punishment to be more costly than life in prison without parole.
When comparing murder rates in Texas against states that do not have the
death penalty, it becomes obvious the death penalty is no more a deterrent
than mandatory life sentences. Capital punishment simply makes no sense,
and it's time for our country to join the rest of the civilized world and
abolish it.
Fry is clearly an honorable and thoughtful man who did what he thought was
right at the time.
John Latson, Dallas
(source: Letter ot he Editor, Dallas Morning News)