Guilty Until Proven Innocent

The death penalty has always been a very debatable subject in most states – except Texas.  It seems that here there are more supporters of the death penalty than not.  I say this because we continue to elect state officials who support it.  Our previous governor, Gov. George W. Bush is one the death penalty’s biggest supporters, perhaps even more so than Gov. Rick Perry.  An article written on Sept. 11, 2011 by Arlette Saenz of ABC News reports:  “Under Perry, Texas has executed 235 people over nearly 11 years – amounting to more than 21 people per year. During Bush’s five-year tenure as governor, 152 people were executed in Texas - more than 30 per year.” 

Texas should ban executions.  According to an editorial written this week in the Dallas Morning News titled: Salute to Connecticut on death ban the writer explains that: “Eyewitnesses are mistaken. Forensic evidence is misread or misinterpreted. Innocent people admit things they didn’t do. Innocent people end up with bad lawyers and cut bad deals. Innocent people go to death row.”  All of these statements are true and can easily be proven by researching actual cases of the wrongly convicted.  Here are a couple of examples: Cameron Todd Willingham convicted of murder by arson was executed a few years ago.  Based on the evidence presented, people all over the world believe that he was wrongly convicted and died an innocent man.  More recently, Kerry Max Cook was exonerated but is still a marked man as explained in an article published in the Texas Tribune by Michael Hall:

Cook’s situation is complex. His death sentence was twice overturned by higher courts, DNA taken from the victim’s underwear did not match his own, and the evidence used to convict him has been shown to be entirely fallacious — but because Cook pleaded no-contest to the murder on the eve of what would have been his fourth trial, he cannot be declared actually innocent.

Another startling statistic is that during the past 10 years there has been over 40 prisoners exonerated due to DNA evidence.  That is more than enough reason for me to believe that we must ban state executions and reduce all of the current death row sentences to life without parole.    

A very small part of me deep down in my soul agrees with the death penalty supporters and I can empathize with the victims' family and understand why the death penalty would be justifiable punishment for victims of hateful, violent crimes.  What I do not understand is how death penalty supporters can sleep at night when they know the criminal justice system is flawed and full of human error and innocent people are being convicted on a regular basis.  Based on the statistics, it is also HIGHLY likely that innocent people have already been executed or will be in the future. 

Hey, we all make mistakes right?  I am sure that lawyers mix-up files, forensic evidence is lost or misplaced from time to time or some other administrative error occurs during criminal cases.  In the case of the death penalty, isn’t one mistake one too many?

Comment on "Shake up the System"

In Melanie Warren’s blog titled “It is Time for Those Who Lead to Give a S***!” I totally agree that the local politicians are partly to blame when it comes to low voter turnout and for the politically uneducated masses.  I also agree that the Mayor and City Council members should take a more active role with educating the public and getting more citizens involved by knocking on doors, making phone calls, and making City Council meetings more accessible and less complicated.  However, there are many things that the rest of us can do to increase knowledge about state and local government.  Blogs like this are a great example.  If we have knowledge that we can share with our peers, we should do that more often.  I am sure that most people would be more motivated by someone that they know as opposed to a “dirty” politician who usually has an ulterior motive.

Secondly, the school system can do a much better job with adding political education to its curriculum.  I feel that Texas government courses should be required during elementary school and should continue each year or at least every other year until High School graduation.  The courses should focus on more than just the Alamo.  We need to start teaching children how to think critically during their formative years; they need to know about the history of the political process and how it works today.  They also need to understand the roles of the Mayor, City Council and other locally elected officials.  By doing so, our citizens would have a much strong foundation of knowledge in regards to the political process and hopefully, by the time they are of legal voting age, will be able to make well-informed decisions based on knowledge instead of how most people vote: superficial ideology or party affiliation.    

I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that discussed political issues regularly and my mother always reminded me how important it was to vote.  Even still, I am guilty of not keeping up with the city, state and county elections and other issues.  If it weren’t for me taking this class right now, it would be very easy for me to disengage from local politics, especially with the national election coming up this year.  Why is that?  I don’t think it is the politicians’ fault that I am not keeping up with current news.  I do believe that the media could play a much bigger role to help citizens become more aware of the issues at hand.  The media, especially TV, plays a huge role when it comes to educating the public.  The local news should take more time to profile candidates, talk about political issues and perhaps spend two minutes less on the weather (all I need to know if it I need a coat or umbrella) and use that time to educate the public about issues that affect voters and tax payers.

Like Melanie, I also believe “that people, if given the chance and the education, would answer the call and become involved.” But in my opinion, the  “monumental challenge” starts with us not them. By sharing information with our peers; adding more political curriculum in the schools; using media more effectively to educate the masses; along with Melanie’s suggestions…. Texas' government could better reflect its citizens' views and ideals in just a few short years.

The Young and the Rest - less educated

In 2011, Gov. Rick Perry challenged Texas’ higher education institutions to make college more affordable.  His specific request was for Texas colleges to find a way to create a bachelor’s degree that would cost $10,000 or less including books.  In an article posted on March 29, 2012 in the Texas Tribune, by Reeve Hamilton titled:  “Texplainer: How Can I Get a $10,000 degree?”,  he explains how Texas A&M University San Antonio in partnership with Alamo Community Colleges have figured out a way to create a degree program for approximately $9700.  There are three distinct stipulations for qualifying for the bachelor’s degree:  (1) the student must take most of the required college classes while attending high school; (2) the student must attend an Alamo Community College for a year prior to transferring to Texas A&M and; (3) the degree obtained must be a bachelor’s of applied arts and sciences in information technology with an emphasis in computer security. 

As an adult returning student, currently attending Austin Community College and planning to transfer to a 4-year university in the fall - I am immediately disqualified from the pursuit of this less expensive degree program.  I don’t discount the plan completely.  I believe the program will benefit the T-STEM Early College High School students in the San Antonio area who have a strong desire to maintain such a degree at an affordable price.  My issue is that it looks like these are the only students who will be able to take advantage of the so-called $10,000 degree.  My other issue is that Gov. Rick Perry seemed to only think up this grand idea during his campaign for the Presidency.  Coincidence?  You be the judge.  The other extraordinary coincidence is that Gov. Rick Perry is the only Texas governor who is an alumnus of Texas A&M University, which is the only school, for now, that is planning to implement such a degree program this fall.

In his article, Hamilton makes a good point:  “the degrees are very narrowly tailored to specific universities.”  In my opinion, this also makes them less available to a significant number of students.  Why not offer such a plan to single mothers, military service members and their dependents, and students who are economically disadvantaged?  I can think of a plethora of students who could benefit and be willing to obtain a bachelors of applied arts and sciences in the information technology with an emphasis in computer security.  Especially if they knew it would increase their chances of obtaining gainful employment in the near future.  

According to Wendy Rigby a Journalist with channel KENS 5 news of San Antonio, “The degree will funnel students into the cyber security field, an area where San Antonio is second only to Washington, DC.”   This is a great plug for the program, except during that same time an A&M System spokesman named Steve Moore expressed in an email that “There is not a scalable approach that will result in meaningful, affordable degree plan development…" so who should we believe and why should Texans buy into such a program?  It seems that all of the major universities in Texas should have accepted Gov. Perry’s challenge and start doing something to reduce high costs associated with college education, right now.  

My theory is that this degree was a plot to provide Gov. Rick Perry with some talking points on how he has “improved” education in Texas during his failed campaign for Presidency while also making a nice commercial for his alma mater.  The $10,000 degree that can be obtained from Texas A&M San Antonio makes a very small impact in today’s high-cost world of higher education and still leaves millions of current and potential Texas college students with the challenge of finding ways to afford higher education and stay competitive in today’s ultra-competitive job market.