TALES...BEHIND THE BARS - Page 3

Earle emphasized to participants how, in his opinion, much of an impact public opinion does truly have on a politician like himself. "...But I listen to the public--and you have greater strength than you realize." He says that this restorative justice ministry process does resound with popular support and the people DO ask for those things and victims do find a road to their emotional healing.

He went on to cite the example of Thomas Ann Hines, the mother of a son who was murdered a number of years ago here in Austin and who has been featured on Oprah Winfrey. "Thomas Ann was one of the angriest crime victims I've ever met. Now she has herself undertaken a journey of healing that led her to establish a non-profit called Healing Through Impact Panels.

And about why Earle thinks the public likes this concept, he cites a humorous example. "I've been District Attorney of Travis County here in Austin for 24 years. Several years ago, my wife and I were in a restaurant just south of Dallas--and the waitress came up to the table and said, 'Excuse me, sir-- but the man at the other table over there wants to know if you are the District ETERNITY from Austin...Yeah--I never intended for it to be that..."

But then why would Earle desire what might be for some to seem like a thankless job? Earle responds, "When I ran for District Attorney, I had never been an Assistant DA--I was a member of the Legislature...so I know about these funding requests...TDCJ, and for all kinds of great reasons, everybody wants money. I had never been a prosecutor before-- so I didn't know how to do the job...

"All I knew was what the law said. The law says that the duty of the DA--you remember this because you've got a DA in your hometown--the duty of the District Attorney is NOT to convict, but to see that justice is done. Now the law doesn't define justice...So I spent 24 years trying to figure out what justice was. At first, I thought it was vengeance and payback. And so we were tough on crime--but everybody's tough on crime. That's easy--being tough on crime is real easy. What's hard is being smart on crime...We were tough on crime--I had a high conviction