[TxAPhi]

Texas needs a third option when dealing with capital crimes: life without parole.

If legislators lacked incentive to give Texas juries the option of assessing life without parole sentences in the past, they now have plenty with the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court banning states from executing juvenile killers. Senate Bill 60 would establish a life term without parole. We urge senators meeting today to consider the bill to pass it out of committee.

Death penalty proponents lobbied successfully to quash such legislation in the past. They believe it would weaken the state's death penalty system — the busiest in the nation. As it stands, Texas jurors now have just two sentencing options in capital crime cases: execution or life in prison, which actually means a minimum of 40 years. After 40 years of a life sentence, a convict is eligible for parole.

We have long argued that the death penalty is wrong because of the potential of executing an innocent person. Moreover, the deck is stacked against poor defendants. We've also complained mightily about the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has acted as a rubber stamp for prosecutors. The Texas appeals court didn't think it was a problem for a defense lawyer to sleep through portions of his client's capital murder trial.

Even so, it's understandable how jurors might opt for the death penalty over a life sentence given the current sentencing choices. The possibility of parole, however small, could mean that a violent criminal might one day be set free. The death penalty ensures that a criminal won't be free again. Life without parole would accomplish the same goal.

Momentum is building for the life without parole option, says the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville. This month, the U.S. Supreme Court left Texas with only one option in dealing with minors who commit capital crimes: Life with the possibility of parole. Thankfully, Texas no longer will be able to sentence 17-year-olds to death, but the state should have the option of putting them in prison for life without parole. Lucio's bill would not eliminate the death penalty for adults.

For years, the state has needed a third option for dealing with people who commit capital crimes. Texas and New Mexico are the only death penalty states that don't offer jurors the option of sentencing criminals to life without parole. The Legislature can and should change that.


ETA (from another article, Alaska is added): Forty-seven other states lock up their most heinous killers without the chance of ever getting out. Only Texas, Alaska and New Mexico do not.