This Death Penalty Dialog was held in January at the Hobby Center in Houston. In posting this You Tube video, I am not telling anyone what to think. I am sharing what I think. I submit it as part of a conversation.

Ron Carlson spoke to staff yesterday. I was fascinated to hear him describe witnessing the execution of his sister’s murderer. People say that survivors need the “closure” of an execution. He says it gave him no closure. It added to his trauma. There is no closure for someone who has lost a loved one to violent crime. He said the world is no safer than it was before the execution, when his sister’s murderer was in jail. The sun did not shine any brighter. He is a strong proponent of life without parole, which costs $600,000, as opposed to execution which costs $2.5M.

Apparently the number of convictions overturned by DNA evidence is making a difference. And the possibility of life without parole. Last year Texas juries only doled out eight death sentences, the lowest since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.