Capital Punishment in Texas. Look

¶ … Capital Punishment in Texas. Look at the benefits, drawbacks, costs, and moral and ethical questions raised by imposing the death penalty as punishment in the state of Texas. Do you believe state government should put criminals to death?

Also, discuss and explain the purposes of prisons (being sure to examine its functions

Including correction, rehabilitation, punishment, isolation, and deterrence) and if Texas

prisons achieve those goals (according to the textbook). Also look at the changing focus of Texas prisons, prison problems, repeat offenders, reentry issues, parole, and what the state might do to address some of these problems.

Capital Punishment's etymology stems from the Latin word capital, meaning quite literally "regarding the head." Twenty three people have had to regard their heads in the United States already this year; eleven of which were in Texas. Four people were put to death in Texas in May 2010. Two were in Hunt County, one in Bee County and another in Collin County

. Texas has been using the death penalty ever since its inception in 1819 and it has continued using murder as punishment ever since.

Those who claim capital punishment affective huddle behind the claims that executing capital offenders provides a deterrent that acts to prevent other from committing such horrendous acts of violence. That somehow when the potential offenders are contemplating there acts of violence, they stop and consider that if they continued to pursue such lines of reasoning then they could be potentially be put to death by a state institution. A pro-death penalty resource devoted website states that there are seven recent studies that all conclude that capital punishment is a reasonable deterrent to prevent future crimes. They state that "having the death penalty will always be an added deterrent to murders, over and above any lesser punishments."

The problem with line of reasoning is that it is hard to imagine these criminals or anyone else contemplating a crime, deciding not to commit the crime on the basis that the death penalty may be among the possible outcomes. Spending the rest of your life in a maximum security prison seems like a fairly hefty deterrent on its own. Therefore for the death penalty to value to society in regards to the deterrent aspect, it would have to be deemed by a potential offender to be the tipping top in their decision making process. That is it must enough provide the incentive for someone to resist committing an horrific act when spending the rest of your life behind bars doesn't not provide sufficient incentive in itself.

Besides the mere theoretical objection to the deterrent as specified, there are many compelling empirical arguments against the use of the death penalty. The first is that the cost of convicting someone to a death sentence is nearly four times as much (depending on the source) as keeping them in prison for life. Legal representation for the defense plus other associated costs can amount to nearly two million dollars while keeping them in prison for life can cost as little as half a million. From a pure economic stand point, the death penalty makes no sense.

Other data also suggests that the death penalty provides little in terms of a preventive incentive for potential violators. Consider the fact the UK and Australia both have murder rates in their countries that total less than twenty five percent that of the U.S. murder rate per capita. Neither the UK nor Australia has capital punishment in their legal systems. If the advocates of the deterrent effect were correct then one would suspect that both the UK and Australia would higher rates of murder incidents; which are not the case.

2. Discuss and examine public education in Texas. What is the purpose and function of an I.S.D. What are the purposes of the SBOE and the TEA? In your opinion, is the TAKS

test good for educating students in Texas? If the Legislature eliminates the TAKS test, then what should it be replaced with?

Texas education, much like the education in the United States as a whole, faces a crisis in meeting the requirements of a global community. The United States is being far surpassed by competing international educational systems. A study was conduct by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which looked at the educational systems in developed countries across the planet. The educational system in the U.S. ranked surprisingly low when compared against other countries.

The PISA studies fifteen-year-old students across the globe on three different subjects. The test given is similar to the Texas TAKS test but maintains the benefit of being compiled by experts worldwide. The test is broken down into three main categories; reading literacy, mathematics and science. The reading literacy test was conducted in the United States in the year 2000 and when compared to the other twenty seven countries who participated, the U.S. ranked fifteenth. In mathematics the U.S. ranked twenty fourth out of twenty nine and in science the U.S. ranked twenty one out of thirty countries surveyed.

It is clear that the U.S. is no longer the world leader in educational matters. Gone are the days in which the U.S. stands as a lone super power that leads the world in most metrics. Now the U.S. plays a back seat to more advance systems of education that have developed in other parts of the world. Since the U.S. has been surpassed in its development of science, mathematics and literacy it seems as if the focus on standardized testing within the country has received unworthy emphasis by the Board of Education, Texas Education Agency, and by the Independent School Districts across the state.