Accountability

After reading the responses to my post, Ultimate Justice, I was struck with this really weird feeling inside of me.... I think it's called caring.  I have to admit that I had written that post with the sole intention of attaining a good grade and didn't really care about the topic.  I haven't really cared much about the government in the past, mostly due to our butting heads and their constant need to keep telling me I'm wrong, but hey, that's a whole other post I might have to take up some other time.  So after reading the responses and then reading my post again I realized that after typing up what I thought sounded good, I forgot to give my honest opinion and argument.

My stance on the death penalty in Texas is complicated to say the least.  I believe the justice system in Texas is flawed with prosecutors who care about nothing but convictions regardless of innocence and higher than thou judges who condemn innocent men to death row due to their race, social status, and their incompetent lawyers.  With that being said I don't oppose the death penalty for those who are truly guilty, the problem is that we are sending innocent people to prison and death row.  Do we justify the death of those innocent people because the majority of the people on death row or in prison for extended lengths of time deserve to be there?  Sure there's due process and appeals for them to prove their innocence, but what happens when those people who are sworn to uphold the laws of Texas simply fail to do their jobs?  Where is the accountability?

The accountability of those attorneys and judges is under the jurisdiction of The State Bar of Texas.  According to The State Commission On Judicial Conduct, "the most severe disciplinary action available to the Commission is a public censure", a public denunciation of the judge's conduct.  Mistakes are bound to happen, but when the people who are sworn to protect and serve the public knowingly deprive a human being of their rights and freedoms, something more needs to happen besides a "public censure".  Exonerated prisoners in Texas currently receive $80,000 for every year spent in prison.  That amount seems large at first, but you can't put a price on the loss of freedom or amount for the cost it will take to rebuild the rest of your life.  The Innocence Project Of Texas currently works to exonerate those men and women who were wrongly convicted, but is there something we can do to prevent the future conviction of innocent Texans? Should the police officers, lawyers, or judge's who knowingly put innocent people behind bars or on death row be sentenced to prison time themselves?  Should the compensation to exonerated prisoners come out of their pockets solely?  I don't have the answers, but common sense tells me that something needs to change... someone needs to be held accountable.