Column Confirms Need for Death Penalty

Dear Editor,
    Even though "Rick Perry Death Watch" [News, Jan. 25] is designed to call attention to (and disparage) the state's death penalty statute, to me it always reads as an example of why we need it. Every crime described here is something heinous and despicable where the perpetrator absolutely got the sentence he or she deserved. Do we really need to keep people who murder old ladies and children? And in an overcrowded prison system, does life imprisonment make sense? Police will shoot mad dogs on sight, so why should this be any different? I agree that we need to reform the death penalty in Texas, in that we should stop wasting taxpayer money on endless appeals. In the meantime, your column keeps me assured that these criminals are being executed for all the right reasons.