The chart above, from the Dallas Morning News, shows the seven states that conduct the most executions in the United States. Texas is the leader by a large margin, having executed 46 people from 2013 thru 2018. Out of the 25 U.S. executions in 2018, Texas did more than half of them (13).
Although I am a progressive (liberal, leftist, etc.), I am not particularly soft on crime. I worked for nearly 30 years in various aspects of law enforcement, and I believe anyone who commits a crime against another person or their property should be punished -- and the more severe the crime, the more severe the punishment should be.
But I have never been comfortable with state-sanctioned killings. Does justice really require the state to execute the offender -- or is that just revenge masquerading as justice?
Our justice system is not perfect, and there have been many instances of people being unjustly sent to death row -- and undoubtably some of them were executed. Personally, I believe that is a crime against humanity.
There are some individuals that are just to dangerous to ever allow them to walk free, because they might well harm another person again. I understand that. But isn't life without the possibility of parole the appropriate response for those offenders?
Isn't it time we joined the rest of the civilized world and outlawed the death penalty?
