Something to consider
Star-Telegram
Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins is receiving more notice these days for the people he's getting out of prison than for those he's putting behind bars.
That's a good thing, because those he has freed since taking office in 2007 were wrongly convicted under what we now know was a flawed system of justice.
James Lee Woodard, 55, is the most recent person to be released from the state penitentiary after DNA proved his innocence. He was convicted of murder and had served more than 27 years of a life sentence.
That one case would be considered a travesty. But Woodard was the 17th person from Dallas County to be released since 2001 -- all for crimes they did not commit.
Watkins has pledged to fight in the Legislature next session for criminal justice reforms, including the creation of conviction integrity units statewide similar to the one he established in Dallas County.
The overzealous tendency in years past of the Dallas County office to emphasize convictions more than justice wasn't unique, unfortunately.
"God forbid that we'd be like the Dallas County of the past with its ... syndrome of conviction at all cost," said Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry.
Curry doesn't believe that his office needs an integrity unit, and there is no evidence that it does. But that might not be true elsewhere.
This issue is worthy of legislative attention, along with proposals that include more public defender's offices, punishment of prosecutors who break the rules and giving inmates pursuing innocence claims access to the courts.
Such a debate next year would give the Legislature an opportunity to seriously consider justice rather than just concentrating on more ways to dispense punishment.
That would be a good thing.
