Reply to:"Against the Death Penalty ?"

The execution of innocent people it is not a thought or believes that people have, it is a real fact that can be verified! Out of the 850 criminals that were sentence to death, 101 were proved innocent and taken out of the death row in time. That gives a 12% chance that at least one out of the 371 inmates in the Texas death roll is innocent.

Death penalty also doesn't help lower crime rates. Studies have shown that the average murder rate is lower in the states that do not have the death penalty than the ones that do. Here are some of the National Murder Rate for comparison:

The alternative punishment for the death penalty is life without parole. That is no such thing as getting out for “good behavior” when sentence to life without parole. Ones convicted, the criminal must serve the full life (40 years in Texas) sentence before been eligible for parole. After the full life sentence is served in incarceration, the parole board will have hearings to decide if the inmate should be released. Parole is not automatic even after the 40 years.
All the information I’ve provided in this post is reliable and trustworthy. Everything can be supported through some research.

Much has happened in Texas after Judge Sharon Keller violated the Court polices of how to handle death penalties cases. Keller thought she was putting an end to convicted murder Michael Richard when she closed the court's doors to his attorneys on their last chance to file an appeal before his execution, but his execution served as an eye opener to the Texas court system and its death penalty.

The Texas' highest criminal court response to Keller’s polices’ violation came on November 6th when written policies allowing lawyers to use e-mails to file emergency motions related to “death penalty cases and other extraordinary matters” were finally adopted by the court. On a letter Keller wrote to the Houston Chronicle responding to request, she said that the court didn’t have any written procedure on the day of Richard’s last appeal attempt, September 25, but she when on saying that this new written policies are a reflection of the “court's unwritten policies” that already existed that day. The new written polices has that on the day of an execution, the judge handling the case needs to stay on duty until after the execution, and that anything that needs to be communicated about the schedule execution needs to be addressed first to the judge assigned to handle the case (on September 25, the judge assigned to Richards’ case was not Keller, but she closed the door to his lawyers anyways).

That same day, Richard’s widow filed a lawsuit in Houston against Judge Keller for not accepting Richard’s appeal after 5pm on September 25th. Keller has filed a motion to dismiss Marsha Richard’s lawsuit where she directs the issue to Texas Government Code §658.005(a) that shows the hours of operation of state agencies as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. She argues that she could’ve ordered the court to stay open only if “considered it necessary or advisable," and there was no need for the criminal appeals clerk's office to stay open because Richard’s attorneys could’ve filed the appeal to any of the court’s judges. The lawsuit was withdrew on November 11th and filed in Austin at the U.S. District Court for the Western District.

Protestants are trying hard to get Judge Keller to either resign or be removed from office since her police violation. On October 30th, a protest was set out in front of the Judge’s house and on November 16th, opponents of death penalty set out in a protest and delivered letters calling for Keller removal.

The written polices are definitely necessary, the lawsuit is not unfair and should not be dismissed, and I agree with the civil rights activists that Judge Keller can not remain in office. It is sad that it took an unfair execution to happen for Texas for Texas death penalty to become an important matter in the state. Adjustments have been made, but there are a lot of things that still need to change. Texas still long ways away from letting it go its fame of been the killer state.

The commentary “Is constitutionally required college credit necessary,” argues against the higher education core curriculum required by the Texas constitution, its down side is that not only fails to give strong, convincing, and supporting evidence, it also contradicts its on statement. If “[i]t is understandable that the state wants to see its residents participating in state and national government sophisticatedly and intelligently,” how can “these constitutionally required courses [be] a waste of time and tuition to the student[?]”

When I had to register for my first government and history class I also thought it thought of them as superfluous, but by the end of the semester my opinion had changed.

Every one should agree that the future of our government is in the hands of the voters. Its simple; votes get to chose who is going to have control over us, so they have to know about local and national government to be able to make the right chooses; therefore, they have to know how local and national government works.

Texas has one of the lowest percentages of eligible votes that are registered to vote in the country and the percentage of eligible voters in Texas that actually vote is lower than the percentage of 43 other states. The core classes are definitely a positive effort to change Texas ranking. When people learn about their government, they see how important it is to care about for it; consequently they become more interested, more involved, and more motivated to vote, act, and participate.

What other better way to teach people about government than through required classes? We can’t leave it up to the media to do it because they only show what people want to see and the little they show about politics is not always trustable and reliable, and if this classes are out of the curriculum no one would want to take them.

History and government classes taught in middle and high school are very important, but students are there because they have to, most of them will forget what they’ve learned, others won’t even care about learning it. The law doesn’t obligate students to go to college like it dos K-12. College students are older, more mature, they are there are there because they want to. You can’t compare how “effective” such classes are in the life of kids and teens with how effective they are in the life of an adult college student.

The government does not required “that in order to vote, at least the twelve discussed hours of credit be obtained” not because it is unfair, take a look again at how terrible Texas ranks nationwide in percentage of votes. That would only make it worse! We want more votes and for people to get more involved; so why not make people that chose to go to college to invest a little money and a little time on things that really matter?

I know that such courses are completely unrelated and useless to many majors, but students have to look at the big picture and realize that such classes are fare from been a waist of money or time; they are an investment for the future.