[speaker001:] happen to know what the laws are in Texas
[speaker002:] uh capital punishment is uh you know accepted an accepted punishment it it's legal
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh there are uh there have been a number of executions over the last few years
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] uh they drag you know the the appeals drag on interminably it seems sometimes um personally I kept I keep thinking that if I could be guaranteed that the people who perpetrate some of these vicious crimes were never allowed free then I would not be in favor of capital punishment but when
[speaker001:] oh I see what you're saying
[speaker002:] but uh when I know that uh they could be paroled and go right back to doing what they did before I I feel decidedly uneasy uneasy about it
[speaker001:] huh
[speaker002:] what about New York
[speaker001:] well in New York I'm not quite sure but what sounds familiar to me is that it's it's not legal except in cases of murder of police officers
[speaker002:] uh-huh okay
[speaker001:] I might be mistaken but that's what sounds familiar to me
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so uh so we don't hear about it
[speaker002:] well yeah
[speaker001:] I was visiting in California recently and apparently they over about two weeks ago they just executed one fellow
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] it is legal there but they they always put it off and put it off and they finally for the first time in twenty five years executed someone
[speaker002:] yes um-hum yes
[speaker001:] so that was quite the news
[speaker002:] I remember reading about that um
[speaker001:] is it only usually in cases of murder sort of an eye for an eye kind of thing
[speaker002:] it's uh it's more than that I think it's a capital murder uh where uh there there was an intent to do other harm as well you know where you you engaged in another felony like robbery at at the same time that you murdered someone
[speaker001:] okay I know there's a a subtle subtle difference between manslaughter and murder
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] I guess you can commit manslaughter by running somebody over by accident that kind of thing
[speaker002:] by accident yes uh-huh that's my understanding of it uh but that uh murder is something that you do intentionally
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] I don't know it just seems to me that everybody wants to know if they do something what's going to happen to them
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I substitute teach and I have kids who talk fresh don't do homework and they say so what's going to happen to me and and people getting less and less respect and they understand they know that the bottom line is not very much is going to happen to them
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so if I could be sure that the people who are sentenced to execution absolutely did it because you know during the with the jury system you're not quite sure
[speaker002:] um-hum no you're not
[speaker001:] you know I I I'd feel comfortable with it if I knew absolutely certainly that this person actually murdered someone
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum or
[speaker001:] but I I think the reason we don't go for it is because we're afraid that we might be making a mistake and you can't fix it
[speaker002:] that's right and and it's a terrible thing to do uh and the world our world seems to become more and more violent all the time by the way I'm a public school administrator so
[speaker001:] okay well did you do you find that the kids are changing and they they don't they they don't respect authority anymore
[speaker002:] oh at all they they do not respect authority uh they kill for fun
[speaker001:] I
[speaker002:] uh they shoot guns for amusement after parties um
[speaker001:] hum well the guns are legal where you are it's quite a to do to get a gun around here legally that is
[speaker002:] yes well it it's not it's not legal to carry a handgun in Texas but no it's not you can have it in your home
[speaker001:] oh I didn't know that okay
[speaker002:] or in your car if you're traveling from one city to another
[speaker001:] oh okay that clears that
[speaker002:] but uh rifles shotguns those sorts of guns are legal
[speaker001:] um-hum well they can do just as much damage
[speaker002:] oh yes it's just that they're harder to hide
[speaker001:] that's true
[speaker002:] but I do I feel decidedly uneasy about the judicial system in our country now not only because we can't be sure that the jury you know has made the right decision that the person who did it's really guilty or really isn't guilty and yet I feel very uncomfortable about the numbers of people who are paroled put back on the streets and within a few months are raping and killing other people