More from KERA
KERA Commentary: GOP Dilemma
(00:02:56)
From: KERA
Commentator Lee Cullum considers the role of evangelicals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
KERA Commentary: Swan Lake
(00:03:17)
From: KERA
Writer Rawlins Gilliland on the merits of time spent alone.
KERA Commentary: The New Normal
(00:03:18)
From: KERA
Writer Chris Tucker on how we might benefit from recession-driven changes in how we buy, shop and save.
KERA Commentary: Political Women
(00:03:44)
From: KERA
Reflection on the media's treatment of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in 2008.
KERA Commentary: Six Degrees of Obama and McCain
(00:03:06)
From: KERA
How the "six degrees of separation" concept is playing out in political campaigns.
KERA Commentary: Changing American Political Debates
(00:03:10)
From: KERA
Commentary on how the presidential debates could be improved.
KERA Commentary: Accuracy in Hispanic Polling
(00:03:18)
From: KERA
Common errors made in polling of Hispanics
KERA Commentary: The Flip-Flop Test
(00:03:26)
From: KERA
What separates a "flip-flop" from a valid change of mind
KERA Commentary: Language of Business
(00:03:00)
From: KERA
Three areas in which business leaders made mistakes leading to the current weak economy.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
December 7, 2007 marks 25 years to the day Texas resumed use of the death penalty. The state has put to death 405 inmates during that time. In one of two KERA commentaries on the subject, writer and journalist Timothy O'Leary explains why he thinks the state needs to end its use of capital punishment.
Broadcast History
Commentary aired December 7, 2007 during Morning Edition on KERA-FM in Dallas, Texas.
Transcript
As a Texan living in Europe, I sometimes feel as if I?m bearing a big and unusual scar ? the kind that compels strangers to ask: How?d you get that?
The scar is the Texas death penalty, and what Europeans really want to know is: What drives Texas to use it so wantonly? What makes Texas swim so strongly against the tide of human decency?
I don?t defend Texas because I share most Europeans? belief that capital punishment is wrong.
In the 27 countries of the European Union, and in Switzerland, where I live, capital punishment is rightly banned as cruel, an offense against human dignity and an ineffective deterrent against violent crime.
No country of the European Union has executed a human being since Latvia did so in 1996 ? eight years before it joined. If Latvia had not stopped executing human beings, it wouldn?t have been allowed to join. The trade off was that stark.
Timing and Cues
In the 25 years that have passed since the state resumed use of the death penalty on this day in 1982, Texas has put 405 inmates to death. Journalist and editor Timothy O?Leary explains why he thinks the death penalty is turning Texas into an international pariah.
Related Website
