Stoicism in the Texas Judiciary

Recently, former Texas inmates have filed lawsuits because DNA testing has exonerated their criminal charges. These men were wrongfully accused of their said crimes and should be rightfully compensated for their many years in prison. One inmate in particular was supposed to receive 80,000 dollars a year for every year he spent in the state penitentiary. The Texas judiciary would only grant him 20,000 dollars a year for his 14 year sentence due to the loopholes in the judicial system. Also, he would only get 3 months worth of the total sum due to him.

How can they get away with making a faulty conviction and not pay the consequences? Since he was on parole prior to the criminal conviction, Texas law prevents him from benefiting because of his concurrent sentence. The state attorney’s office states that, “parole is a continuation of a criminal sentence served outside of prison” (Austin American Statesman). It has always been my impression that parole was a separate institution away from prison, not an extension of it. I don’t think that is ethically right of them to marginalize the impact they have had on the inmate’s lives. If this is how they treat citizens that have had their lives taken from them, I don’t want to live in Texas anymore. I think the Texas Judiciary needs to take into consideration the level of the crimes that were committed prior to sentencing before making the decision to cut compensation. By gauging past crimes, it will help differentiate the people that committed small crimes from the people that have committed large or the same crime.

Discipline or lack thereof?

Fundamentally, education is the most important aspect of social and economic progression in our modern world. It helps create better lives financially, and more informed citizens to tackle impeding problems. Once the “key” to this world is handed over to our generation, we will need to be more educated and conversant than the last generation. Personally, I don’t think my generation is ready to grasp reality and the leadership needed to sustain a better world. My bleak proposition is based on today’s educational system and how students seem to have a more inverted approach to learning.

Dan, the writer of "Education.....The Governor's responsibility?" in his blog Texas my Texas, makes some good points about the attitude that Texas government has towards education and the condition in which teachers are merely babysitters more than educators. He focuses on the statistics in the first half of this commentary, which shows that 40 percent of the Texas budget is spent on education. This information should be absolutely appalling to the readers that have recently gone through the secondary educational system and have learned nothing significant their 15 or so years consumed by “learning.” It makes me wonder if the education budget is efficiency used and propagated. The budget versus the learning output of students is not the only problem prevalent in educational system; the government can’t always throw money at problems and always expect a positive outcome in the end. Also, Dan makes a good point on how the indifferent attitudes of parents’ towards education often affect the well being of their children. More likely than not, it is the parent’s fault if their children act up in school because they have learned discipline, or the lack of from them. It is utterly irresponsible for parents not teach their child have to behave or act, especially at an institution that is helping them gain a better future.