Abolishing The Death Penalty In Texas

Frank Newport of Gallup News Service did a study on the public’s opinion of the death penalty and 69 percent replied with “yes” when asked if they were in favor the death penalty (Newport, 2007). His report also states that every year since 2001 when he polled the question “Is the death penalty morally acceptable?” the majority of the public has responded with “yes” (Newport, 2007). According to Newport’s study, most men (76%), women (62%), republicans (81%), democrats (60%), whites (73%) and non-whites (55%) are “in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder” (Newport, 2007). This study supports the fact that the majority of society agrees that the death penalty is a just and fair way to punish convicted murderers.

There are laws and decisions of United States government and higher orders that present controversy to the people of America. In the state of Texas the application of the death penalty is difficult to interpret, especially for the mentally ill, because there is no written law or bill that explains the execution implication in complete detail. The death penalty is a capital punishment of death for those who have committed such high crime. This penalty goes for everyone who does such act no matter who you are, how rich how poor, or where you stand in society. For the longest time, even with the mindset and understanding that those who commit crime to a certain level can receive the execution punishment, the concern and debate whether the mentally

Putting people to death for breaking the law is a punishment that has been in existence for thousands of years of human history and has been enforced in all corners of the

There have been many different types of forms used when it comes to punishing the accused offender. In the past the punishment methods used ranged anything from stoning to death, to setting someone alive on fire, hanging, or the beheading of someone, alongside with the attaching of the offender’s arms and legs to four separate horses, or oxen only to be pulled apart. In all these barbaric and inhuman acts by our standards today, were performed within the towns square so that the community and visitors would be able to witness these executions.

This chart shows how many executions there has been since the year 1976 to how many there are in 2015 and 2016. In the state of Texas, it has the highest death penalty with Oklahoma coming in second. The state of Texas has executed 538 people since 1976 to which 279 occurred when Rick Perry was governor of Texas which is more than any other governor had in their term. The executions had risen up in 2000 in the state of Texas where 40 people were put down. According to the chart from where it is at this year compared to the year 1976, the death penalty has declined to very few numbers to where some states abolished it because it violated the state’s

Did you know that since 1976, there have been a total of 518 executions in Texas alone? However in 2014 Texas only executed ten people. This is because they are seeing how much of a mistake the death penalty is. The death penalty is a useless form of punishment. The cost of it vastly overshadows that of the costs for life without parole, also yearly more and more death row inmates are being exonerated (released), and lastly it fails to deter criminals from committing crimes.

The death penalty is a controversial issue because it involves a dispute between sides which hold opposing views. Those who support the death penalty believe that it deters criminals and makes them think twice. Some supporters claim that it is morally right and gives victims justice. Furthermore, supporters of the death penalty think that it is the only way to fully protect society.According to “Solid Majority Continue to Support Death Penalty” ”About six in ten americans favor the use of death penalty for a person convicted of murder”(Solid 2016). On the other hand those who oppose death penalty think that the cost outweighs the benefits. They also argue that the death penalty can be faulty at times. Opponents argue that the death penalty

In the United States, there are around 40 to 50 executions per year, Texas with 10 or more prisoners put to death each year. Texas has the highest rate of deaths out of all the other states with the death penalty. Texas currently has three prisoners put to death already. The United States has currently 31 states with the death penalty; the remaining states abolished it. The death penalty should be abolished because of the cost, it shortens punishment for the person who did the crime,and it puts innocent lives at risk.

Since the death penalty was reauthorized in 1976, 1,362 people have been executed, almost exclusively by the states, with most occurring after 1990. Texas has accounted for over one-third of modern executions and over four times as many as Virginia, the state with the second-highest number. The Walls Unit prison in downtown Huntsville, Texas is the nations busiest execution chamber.

There were fifty-two executions in the United States in 2009 and forty-six in 2010, with over 3,000 people waiting on death row for their sentences to be carried out. In most cases these never will be

“The use of the death penalty in the United States has been rapidly declining since the end of the 1990s” (Dieter, 2015). This is contrast to the believes of the Founding Fathers where “the death penalty was widely accepted at the time the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights were ratified” (Gardner & Anderson, 2014). While the crimes have not changed, aspects of capital punishment which were once viewed as constitutional, today are deemed cruel and unusual. The prevailing liberal view sees the death penalty as morally unjustified and a vengeful form retribution. “It is the most brutal form of state power, requires massive state administrations and it costs significantly more than life imprisonment which is both more humane and equally effective” (Davidson, 2015). They point to the lack of deterrence it provides and highlight the racial and gender biases of the criminal justice system and the potential for the execution of the innocent by the State. In contrast, those in favor of capital punishment see it as a valid, moral and constitutional punishment as punishments should be imposed in proportion to the crime. The death penalty is reserved for the most violent of crimes in society and without it, justice is not achieved for victims and their families. The death penalty must be viewed again as a valid, moral and legal

While supporters of the death penalty thought that the death penalty could be applied without racial and class disparities, research conducted through the years have indicated that race and class disparities have shown not in isolated cases, but in many cases. The authors argue that “Public opinion on the death penalty show that while most Americans recognize the problem of race and class bias, they do not view such discrimination as a reason to oppose the death penalty” (Radelet & Borg, 2000, page 5).

Consequently, the Death Penalty has created a few trends like Gender Bias, now gender bias, is that people may favor a gender over another, such a problem would be troublesome to have in existence when deciding who deserves the Death Penalty. This is a not only big dilemma, but it has been a long problem too, because according to the Huffington Post “However, in these same 39 years, the United States has executed 1,399 men. Even death row shows a gender bias, where of the 3,035 people on death row, only 54 of them are women.” This means that in the last 39 years, there have been, executed 3,305 people, and only 54 of them were women, so in the last 39 years more men have died than women, so there is clearly a preference and that is not a satisfying thing to have when you are a judge, who is also going to give the punishment of death to someone. Also according to,Ohio Law professor, Victor Streib “‘It’s just easier to convince a jury that women suffer from emotional distress or other emotional problems more than men.’” So he is saying that it is really easy to make a women look like they are suffering some sort of emotional problem that made them do a bad felony, furthermore, most judges would believe them because in large amounts of minds of men it is easier to picture a weak,fragile woman than it is for them to picture that from men. An example of this is “Take Susan Smith. She killed her two sons by backing her car into a lake while they sat in the backseat. But when the jury heard about her abusive childhood, they took pity on her, Dieter said.” (Oliver).

An opposition to the death penalty is the fact that it discriminates. Almost fifty percent of people on death row between in 2014 were African American (Markoff). This might just mean that African Americans and other minorities commit crimes disproportionate to their numbers (Kurtz). It is also true that more men than women die from capital punishment, yet no one is shocked by this statistic. It’s not surprising that most on death row are around the age of twenty one, compared to seventy (Kurtz). Many who oppose the death penalty claim that with

One of the most controversial topics to date is the argument surrounding whether or not the death penalty should be utilized. When majority of the people, think about problems surrounding capital punishment, they automatically jump right to it being legal or illegal. When in reality the problems are so much larger. They're issues involved with Capital Punishment, including racism, sexism and financial status to name a few, when it comes to who is being put to death. Recently, one of the most well known issues has become sexism. Gender inequality has been an issue in the United States and around the world for centuries. Although many people may not ask this question, it has always been wondered why more men are on death row and