Monday, December 06, 2004
Hedging bets in Texas
You have to respect Texas -- of the 38 states that allow the death penalty, it seems to be the only one willing to enforce its law to the fullest. Since 1976, Texas has executed 336 people -- over 3 times the amount of their closest rival. As Ron White says, "In Texas, if you kill someone, we'll kill you back."
Texas hard line on crime in general has been a comforting bit of constancy in a sea of shifting sands -- a beacon of retribution that drives liberals to apoplexy. Imagine my distress, then, when I ran across this article. Evidently, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals -- the state's highest criminal court -- has made a proposal that would grant $20 million dollars of sweet tax revenue to several law school clinics for them to . . . are you ready for this . . . investigate prisoners' claims that they were wrongly convicted.
Up until this time I was under the silly notion that investigations into the guilt or innocence of individuals were called "trials" and were only subject to appeal. Evidently, Texas has decided that everyone deserves another bite at the apple. What is Texas trying to tell us? That they have so little faith in their trial system that they are willing to spend millions of dollars to uncover its screw-ups? For that matter, has there ever been a felon who did not claim to be wrongly convicted?
Texas mollycoddling criminals! What's next? Male Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders?
Update: Article link repaired.
Texas hard line on crime in general has been a comforting bit of constancy in a sea of shifting sands -- a beacon of retribution that drives liberals to apoplexy. Imagine my distress, then, when I ran across this article. Evidently, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals -- the state's highest criminal court -- has made a proposal that would grant $20 million dollars of sweet tax revenue to several law school clinics for them to . . . are you ready for this . . . investigate prisoners' claims that they were wrongly convicted.
Up until this time I was under the silly notion that investigations into the guilt or innocence of individuals were called "trials" and were only subject to appeal. Evidently, Texas has decided that everyone deserves another bite at the apple. What is Texas trying to tell us? That they have so little faith in their trial system that they are willing to spend millions of dollars to uncover its screw-ups? For that matter, has there ever been a felon who did not claim to be wrongly convicted?
Texas mollycoddling criminals! What's next? Male Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders?
Update: Article link repaired.
Centinel 1:02 PM #