[speaker001:] John I'm kind of in favor of capital punishment how about you
[speaker002:] I am I yes and uh uh what was the first part of the uh subject that you
[speaker001:] well uh do you think it should just be restricted to certain crimes
[speaker002:] oh I I basically do I think uh other than murder uh the probably uh I don't think there's a need for it if uh if it's not if the case is doesn't involve murder I don't see any need for it in anything else any other circumstances I guess it's an eye for an eye
[speaker001:] well there are those that say it's not a deterrent to others but I think it certainly deters the one that uh
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] gets the capital punishment
[speaker002:] well yeah I guess the other argument is that you might execute the wrong person but uh I don't know I just think the chances of that happening are pretty slim of course it's it's not reversible uh obviously but uh I just think the way the system is set up uh the chances of the wrong person being executed are are really very small uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh I've served on a few juries and they take a they seem to take a lot of care to make sure they've got the uh the right person whatever for the conviction levied
[speaker001:] that's that's true well certainly Texas uh as a state believes in capital punishment I don't know I wonder if we execute more people than other states or
[speaker002:] um-hum I don't know you every once in a while if you hear if there's some who's fairly famous or notorious being executed in another state you read about it or hear about it but uh I don't know how we rank up there with the other states but uh I think it's a deterrent I I don't I mean it wouldn't be a deterrent for everybody obviously but I think uh if it uh if it saves one person's life it may be worth it uh if one person who was going to kill somebody thought otherwise because of the uh possibility or a possibility of capital punishment it uh it may be worth it but I think it's a deterrent
[speaker001:] yeah I think so too uh and and we fail so miserably in rehabilitating any kind of criminal
[speaker002:] um-hum right and
[speaker001:] and I I don't know I wonder if there are other crimes uh a repeated rapist for example or
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh I don't know kidnapping of course is a capital crime but I
[speaker002:] well is that uh is that punishable by death in Texas or is that up to the jury to decide or the judge
[speaker001:] I doubt that I I don't know
[speaker002:] I never thought about that but is that is that a capital crime
[speaker001:] don't know I think so but maybe not maybe not I could be confused what do I know
[speaker002:] huh  don't hear much about don't hear much about kidnapping anymore kidnaps uh
[speaker001:] I'm not a kidnapper well there've been a few over in in I guess I not recently I guess
[speaker002:] but the uh the whole judicial system is a mess like you said there's no rehabilitation in the prisons and so they get out of prison and they're they're back to doing what they were doing before they went to prison
[speaker001:] that's right
[speaker002:] they haven't learned a lesson
[speaker001:] well I certainly don't agree with a with a murderer getting a sentence of twenty years and being out in seven or whatever it is
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] I think that's just totally inappropriate
[speaker002:] yeah well like you said rape uh that there's a possibility there for uh capital punishment and that that's a serious enough crime that uh it maybe warrant capital punishment but what gets me is the uh I may be getting off the subject somebody might get forty five years for stealing I mean for robbing something of course that I think to get that they'd have to be a repeat offender that'd be more than one or two cases involved but the the whole judicial system seems to be lopsided messed up
[speaker001:] yeah you don't uh so you don't think that capital that capital punishment is appropriate for repeated robber or
[speaker002:] no no I really don't uh no murder and again rape possibly a repeated uh rapist may be uh a candidate for capital punishment but uh the really serious stuff I don't this burglary and robbery and uh that sort of thing even if they're multiple offenders or repeat offenders I I wouldn't condone capital punishment for that
[speaker001:] no uh yeah I I don't know what the consensus in the state is I know it was it was a few years ago that the Supreme Court struck down capital punishment didn't they didn't they tell the states to go back and review the circumstances
[speaker002:] yeah yeah that uh it was it was uh there was no capital punishment for a long time there I don't know fifteen twenty years maybe
[speaker001:] something like that they
[speaker002:] and uh I know when I was growing up there was uh there were a lot of uh electrocutions up in Sing Sing up in New York upstate New York and then uh they did away with like you said Supreme Court outlawed it and then it came back on a state by state basis
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but uh