Last week we were able to give Death Row Inmate Rodney Reed a couple of more months to live. Rodney Reed was convicted in 1998 for rape, kidnapping and capital murder for allegedly killing Stacey Stiles on April 23, 1996. The question I want to present is should we still have the death penalty? Rodney Reed’s life is literally in the hands of an all white jury in the racist county of Bastrop and crooked cops.  There has been evidence that Rodney did not commit this crime and Stacey’s husband who was a cop killed her. We can literally kill a man who may have not commit the crime that would sentence him to death. We should not solve a murder with a murder. It actually cost 380 million dollars to execute somebody. We can literally keep someone in jail for the rest of their life without them being on the streets and it will literally have the same effects as the death penalty. We can use that money to fix the justice system so that innocent inmates can get the justice they deserve. Thankfully Rodney Reed’s case looks to get better by each passing day as recently he received a new judge. But if he does not get off of this case it could lead to another person who the public believes in innocent being killed. 

In my heart I believe that minimum wage should be raised to 15 dollars an hour, but in my mind I realize that if minimum wage is risen that will most likely make things more expensive than what they should be, because businesses are in the business to make money. As I read a post from Lania Manning on blogger.com, I agree with what she is saying but I believe there is levels to this commitment. i believe that this will cause a slippery slope. If we raise minimum wage, companies are going to try to do anything to make that money back. So you should expect an increase in prices. This will also lead to companies increasing their prices because people have more money. I feel like we shouldn't have a focus on increasing minimum wage, I feel the government should try to do more to limit the price of living. If we do that, then every American should be able to eat if they have a job and should be able to live a normal life. If we do choose the route of increasing minimum wage we need to make sure that prices do not rise at an alarming rate.

It is going to be 2020 in two months and the state of Texas still has not legalized weed. There are so many benefits in legalizing marijuana not only for the citizens, but for the government. Colorado legalized Marijuana in January 2014 which led to an economic boost for the state. Since the government owned the weed they could tax the drug for their own use. According to thoughtco.com, since 2014 the sell of weed in Colorado has top 4.5 billion dollars in the state.

Another reason why it is beneficial for Marijuana to be legal country wide is because it will make it harder for children to get the drug. Since weed would not be a black market item anymore, this would lead to better control of who will have the substance. Just like the difficulty of children obtaining alcohol because stores can sell it, the fact that stores sell the drug will make it more difficult for children to possess the drug.

My third and final reason for the legalization of Marijuana country wide is that this will lead to a better justice system. According to FBI Unified Crime Statistics, there were 587,700 arrest made for marijuana. That is more than volient crimes like rape and murder combined. These arrest put an unfair burden on young people, especially those of color. WIth the drug being legalized it would put an emphasis on crimes that actually matter, and not ruin the lives of young people that have a record for possessing Marijuana.