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Related Pieces
Piece Description
December 7, 2007 marks 25 years since Texas resumed use of the death penalty. In one of two KERA commentaries on the subject, J.R. Labbe, deputy editorial page editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, explains why she thinks capital punishment remains just and necessary.
Broadcast History
Commentary aired December 7, 2007 during Morning Edition on KERA-FM in Dallas, Texas.
Transcript
Should society exact the ultimate punishment from those who break its rules most heinously? The majority of Texans have little trouble in answering a resounding yes to that question.
The pace at which the Lone Star State carries out capital punishment bolsters the cries of barbarity by death penalty opponents everywhere.
So be it. The majority of us go about our days knowing justice is being served.
In the ordered society in which we choose to live, we operate by a code of conduct. It's not something held in secret that people only find out about by trial and error. Our society that says if a jury of your peers determines that you've violated our code, you forfeit your right to freedom. And in some cases, the violation is so reprehensible that the consequence is the ultimate: You forfeit your right to live.
Legitimate questions are being asked about the concoction of deadl...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
25 years ago today, Texas resumed use of the death penalty. Charlie Brooks of Fort Worth in 1982 became the 1st in the nation to die by lethal injection ?a form of capital punishment considered more humane at the time than other methods, including the electric chair Texas used for 40 years. That idea is now being challenged before the U-S Supreme Court, but J.R. Labbe, deputy editorial page editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, still considers the death penalty a just and necessary form of punishment.
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