well i am new to Texas so i don't even know what the law is in the state do you
um-hum
well yes of course we do have capital punishment and we've you know done away with our quote fair share number
oh that's right i think now that i recall reading about it in the paper
yes
um you know different things is it restricted to certain crimes or just
yes it's certain crimes uh capital crimes murder of course uh rape this sort of thing
um-hum hum
well
and it seems to be a disproportionate number of blacks you know that get into the system
yes i know the one thing that i think is really sad about it as i recall from the articles that i've read is that if if people who have been there
are going to be killed um there's people that come to the prisons and
and they're very violent and they want i mean they're anxious for someone to be killed i just i can't see that
um-hum yes that
that happens on occasion it sure does maybe it just depends on you know how closely the crime you know has affected you personally you know i don't know or a person personally
uh-huh
no
i think i would be you know i guess really if i had to say yes or no i guess i would say you know that
i am in certain cases in favor of the death penalty i don't know that it's a big deterrent really i don't know that it is i don't know how we'd ever find out you know really whether it is or not
well there is so many chances for appeal that it keep
oh yeah oh absolutely yeah it goes on for years and years and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars taxpayer money
yeah it's really sad i don't know i just think um
yeah
somehow i hoped that as a people we could be better than than um expecting
yes
the feeling that it right with someone is calling for someone else to be killed you know
yes um-hum
is really kind of bad and
yeah it is it's it's a tough tough question it really is
hum
i suspect i would be uh you know a lot more favor of it if you know one of my children were you know brutally killed or something like that like i say i think it depends on how personally affected you know you might be by it
that's true and there really are criminals that are hard-core and repeat and never never have any chance for
oh absolutely
that's
that's right
oh i don't know is it do you feel at all like it's a religious issue
not with me personally it is with a lot of other people
um-hum
it's not not to me personally no
hum
no
i don't know sometimes i feel i mean i do go to church and things i don't know how i would feel about it but like you say if it hit you personally closer at home you would feel feel differently
um-hum
yes
that's a it's a tough tough question it really is
do you think most states have that or
yes i think most states do have capital punishment yes
um-hum hum
but i think the US is one of the few countries that still do
that still does it that's right
yes they're only i was reading something about it the other day i think there was only like six or eight countries in the world that have capital punishment still
um-hum
a lot of them had to have elected elected not to do so now i don't know what they do in place of it you know maybe it's
life imprisonment or you know something i don't i don't know how they handle it but
i was surprised to learn that so few countries have capital punishment
have that well and it doesn't seem like very many people uh are really i mean there's a lot of people that are on death row but there's not very many people that actually um do get killed
oh yeah
yes a lot of them do get their sentences commuted to something else
um-hum
so it seems like a of people live there and
through appeals because i know they do frequently i mean they cover cover it pretty heavily on television and the newspaper
yes
uh-huh yes
if it finally gets to that point
right the first appeal is automatic so
that delays it for a few years just right off the bat
yeah
there's there's a lot of you know last minute uh
things that happen cause a person not to have to go through the whole thing
um-hum
so is it uh are we doing lethal injection now
yes uh-huh that's that's fairly recent i don't know how recent but fairly recent in the state of Texas before that it was uh death by electrocution
um-hum which which seems so awful
yes it certainly does
so it's a little bit more humane i guess it is
yes it would almost have to be i suppose if you if you had to chose i guess i would i am sure i would take the lethal injection
yes the other one just seems so terrible
yes absolutely
hum
it's a it's a tough question it really is i guess if i had to say
you know yes or no i would say you know yes i i would have to lean toward capital punishment you know for certain crimes
well do you think that we do it because we want it to deter crime or it's not because we don't want to pay for inmates to stay in prison
no i don't think it's a monetary thing i think we hope that it will be you know
um-hum
some sort of determent deterrent or you know an eye for an eye type thing or something like that
hum
some of the crimes are just so brutal and so you know useless
this may seem to be the best way out i don't know
yes
easiest way out maybe
no i don't think it's a monetary thing
hum
well um and i notice that the crime rate was up in the Dallas area it's
yes especially the murder rate its just gone crazy
and it's kind of been scary to think about it and
yes absolutely
and you're hoping there is something that will cut down on that
yes i wish i had the answer for that everybody does
you hate to have the dubious honor of being
you know so high in the
yes it's nothing to be proud of certainly not
in statistics
but i you know we have been really fortunate our family hasn't had
yes
any crime
so have we been very very fortunate
and so we don't
it's harder to think about the poor people that have suffered that way
that's right absolutely
and how they would expect how they would
um-hum
hope i mean you you hear of people who have um committed crimes and then they get out of jail and they go and they do the same thing again and you wonder why they can't just stop it
absolutely
uh-huh that's right
so maybe you would
yeah
but still i would hate to be on the jury that sentenced someone
so would i i fortunately i have never been in that circumstance i hope i never am like like everybody else
no i know when um we just we moved here um i from the
i got a summons jury summons just
um-hum
like constantly it seemed like but fortunately i had small children and i didn't have to go and it's not that i mean i think everyone should have to serve on the jury it's just that
uh-huh
right
uh-huh
i didn't i hate having to be in charge of someone else's life
sure it's it's a big responsibility it really is
and i would hate to have to hear any kind of case involving a violent crime or anything
yes
so would i
that would be really awful
yes absolutely
well anyway i sure have enjoyed uh talking to you about this although it has been difficult but uh
it is it's a tough subject it really is
i'd hate to decide it but i guess um
guess it's important that we decide as a people what what we're going to do
right
that's right
anyway well you have a good day
well thank you it's nice talking to you uh-huh bye bye
thank you bye-bye
