A Painfully Personal Question

Sunday's Forth Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram has this op-ed, "Time to end the death penalty's cycle of violence," by victim's family member Ronald Carlson:

June 13, 1983, and Feb. 3, 1998, are two days that will forever be etched in my memory.

On that fateful day in June, I lost my dear sister, Deborah Thornton, senselessly murdered along with her friend Jerry Lynn Dean.

Fifteen years later, I witnessed another senseless act of violence: the execution of Karla Faye Tucker, the woman condemned for the crime.

Before I lost my sister, I had no opinion on the death penalty. But Deborah’s tragic death made the question of capital punishment a painfully personal one. When I learned of the murder of my only sibling, who had helped raise me after our mother died, I was filled with hatred. I would have killed those responsible with my own hands if given the opportunity.

But when I learned that those responsible — Karla Faye and her friend Daniel Garrett — were in fact facing death sentences, I was uncertain that justice was being served.

I’ve since had 25 years — almost half my life — to examine the subject, and the conclusion I’ve come to is a clear one: We as a society should not be involved in the practice of killing people.

Read the rest of the article.