[speaker001:] okay so what are what are your views on on capital punishment
[speaker002:] I have ambivalent feelings because I don't think it serves as a kind of deterrent we would like to think it is but on the other hand it is very very expensive to maintain you know Texas has one of the biggest criminal justice systems in the country
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] and it's eating us alive budget wise and um
[speaker001:] so are they currently practicing capital punishment in your state
[speaker002:] yes we do practice capital punishment but the nature of the uh courts and the appeals and the stays and all that means that it's a very long haul before anybody's ever executed
[speaker001:] yes that's similar to Georgia
[speaker002:] yeah and then I was reading in the paper just this morning it's interesting because I had forgotten I guess that I wrote this little topic down that it costs more to execute somebody than than it does to keep them
[speaker001:] that's probably true considering
[speaker002:] because of all the costs of the appeals and all that you know
[speaker001:] yes yes um I guess in a way that it it kind of defeats the purpose of having capital punishment if
[speaker002:] well I think capital punishment is supposed to be primarily a deterrent to other people
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] you know who would see it
[speaker001:] right that would be the intent of it
[speaker002:] yeah but I'm not sure how successful that is
[speaker001:] well I think it would be more successful if it was applied in a more expedient manner if there weren't so many appeals yeah if if the person who's gonna commit the crime knew that they were gonna be punished severely possibly capital punishment
[speaker002:] quicker maybe yeah um-hum what what kind of work do you do
[speaker001:] uh I'm a research engineer I work uh for with Georgia Tech
[speaker002:] hum well see I'm a school principal
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] elementary school
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] and in a very poor section of town with predominantly predominantly Anglo kids and I see kids already that are gonna be criminals
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] in spite of everything we can do and see I'm afraid I think if we would take the equivalent amount of money and invest it in young people that I mean course you couldn't do that because you got to do something with the ones that are already there
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but I think if we would make a bigger investment in kids we'd have fewer decisions to make
[speaker001:] um that's probably true but I guess
[speaker002:] down the road you know
[speaker001:] there's other factors that but pumping pumping pumping more money into the school system is a good thing but it's not gonna
[speaker002:] oh yeah well I'm not talking about just in the school system
[speaker001:] oh I see
[speaker002:] see I'm talking about like in in uh I'm afraid I think that there are kids who just ought to be taken out of their homes and reared uh I know institutions don't work that well but it's a bad day because because I have all these kids through my office I have a school of five hundred and thirty seven kids
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] five hundred of them are good solid kids and I have the same thirty seven in my office every day
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] and a lot of their parents are totally irresponsible some of them in the penal system
[speaker001:] so that's a difficult situation
[speaker002:] and you know you just see those kids going down the road now not all of them will commit offenses that have to do with capital punishment but some of them have already been in youth centers
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] and that kind of thing and if we had something to do before they get to be full blown adult criminals and I'm not talking about necessarily in the school system I'm not sure that the school system should be the agent of all the social action
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] I think that's one reason we have problems in school systems uh and some of them are our problems but a lot of it's because everything society wants we're supposed to do
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but that's another subject but
[speaker001:] well that's probably true what
[speaker002:] anyway I dealt with two or three kids today that are gonna end up where somebody has to make a decision what to do with them
[speaker001:] hum yeah I guess that's not an easy solution there's there's no easy solution for that
[speaker002:] um-hum I don't I don't know that there is an easy solution but if you could find a way to prevent some of it and I'm not sure what it would be
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] it would be money better spent than do you know it costs more to keep an inmate on death row than it does to send a kid to Harvard
[speaker001:] that's true I'm sure it is yeah
[speaker002:] statistically that's true
[speaker001:] hum yeah I don't I don't certainly capital punishment isn't gonna solve a lot of problems but
[speaker002:] um-hum are you for it
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] I'm for it in in some cases yeah
[speaker001:] I guess I am for certain crimes yeah in certain crimes
[speaker002:] what kind of crimes would you do use it for
[speaker001:] um premeditated murder
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] crimes of that nature I think should definitely any mass murderer type individual
[speaker002:] I I would consider it for sexual abuse of children on going you know not one instance but perpetual abusers of children
[speaker001:] hum um-hum well you always have castration
[speaker002:] well you know somebody elected that recently
[speaker001:] yes I read about that
[speaker002:] and all the civil rights people are up in arms about it you know
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but uh