Texas Death Penalty Essay

Texas being one of the states within the U.S. that allows Capital Punishment also has one of the largest death rows. Jim Mattox, former Attorney General of Texas, who supported the death penalty during his term of office, does not believe that murderers in Texas are hindered by the death penalty. Mattox interviewed nearly all the people executed in Texas between 1976 and 1988 and concluded that the death sentence never crossed their minds before they committed their crime. "It is my own experience that those executed in Texas were not deterred by

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

This criminal code is one of the most sophisticated in the country and has become a model for other states to follow. But research studies conducted to compare effects of the death penalty nationwide have shown some conflicting results. Comparison studies done to show homicide rates of retentionist and abolitionist jurisdictions from 1999 to 2001 (Sorenson & Pilgrim) have shown that death penalty states tend to have a higher murder rate than abolitionist states. This result creates the argument of the overall deterrent effect of execution. Texas is still in the top 20 of states with the highest homicide rate even though it is the highest in death penalty executions. “If the death penalty were a deterrent, the argument goes, then Texas should be located among those states with the lowest homicide rates” (Sorenson & Pilgrim, P. 25).

In many eyes across the country the death penalty is widely criticized. The state of Texas has the death penalty whereas nineteen other states in the United States do not including the state Maine. The death penalty is a way for the states to declare that they don’t tolerate the heinous crimes that some individuals commit. In Texas there are numerous ways that one could be sentenced to death row. Murdering a police officer or firefighter in the line of duty and if the individual knowing that they are a police officer or firefighter, murder for hire or promise of pay, to employ another to commit murder, murder during the act of or attempted act of kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction, retaliation or terroristic

I think Texas needs to discriminate certain behaviors. Many people spent so many years in prison waiting to be executed. I think the government needs to reduce the waiting period for only those people who they are sure that they committed the crime and needs to be executed. Most of the time it’s unfair because those people spend their years waiting and enjoying in prison while the family members are still waiting for justice. It’s unfair that sometimes the family members don’t even witness the justice because they die before the person who committed the crime is executed. The Texas government also needs to reduce jail length for people arrested because of possession of drugs. The government needs to punish them, instead of putting them in

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.

The Texas death penalty is ranked number one nationally, which should not come as a surprise to any native Texans. (Holle, Fellow) Texas even has a prison museum, complete with a capital punishment exhibit, which spotlights an electric chair used to execute 361 prisoners from 1924-1964. Capital Punishment is still legal in 35 states. Japan is the only other Industrial democracy that still has the death penalty. (CNN)

Inmate rate has gone up since the middle of the twentieth century. Oklahoma is in the top 3 for most executions with 83 executions. Virginia has had a total of 97 executions, Texas has had 375 and of the 183 executions there are 100 African Americans, 47 Caucasians, 18 Latinos and 1 Asian American 11 of the people ethnicity was unknown. There have been 2 firing squad deaths since 1976. 57.1% of people executed since 1976 have been white. Whites make up 36% of executions, blacks make up 57.1% and Mexicans make up 6% of executions since 1976. Race of homicide victims in case resulting in an execution: Hispanic 4%, African-American 14%, White 80%, other 2%. And here are some more facts; there have been 153 electrocutions since 1976. Also there have been 3 hangings from the death penalty since 1976. Some people oppose the death penalty and some people are for it, why? I guess people just have facts for both sides. But here are some facts I have about people that oppose the death penalty. Because some people might not have did a bad crime. They also think god should be the judge and not the law. Also the prisoners could be rehabilitated and become normal and not be a threat to society. A lot of people think it is wrong to take a life. And there as probably been some executions were they weren’t even guilty , so before they execute somebody they should make sure they are right and make sure they person is guilty . Other people think that the death

The author of this article, Chokshi, is a reporter and journalist for The New York Times. These accolades for one career are great. Chokshi has wrote other articles regarding the death penalty, so he is familiar with the subject. In this article Chokshi goes into detail about how the death penalty loses majority support. This is the first time in over 40 years that it has done so. The last time it was this low was 1971. Chokshi says, “ For the first time in almost half a century, support for the death penalty has dipped below 50 percent in the United States.” This article will be used in my paper by using the facts proven on why the death penalty has lost majority of in favor votes.

However, it could also be hypothesized that people who be more reluctant to support the Death Penalty based on their other characteristics, such as what political party they identify with, their gender, how much education they have, the amount of media

In this paper, the authors examine how the death penalty argument has changed in the last 25 years in the United States. They examine six specific issues: deterrence, incapacitation, caprice and bias, cost innocence and retribution; and how public opinion has change regarding these issues. They argue that social science research is changing the way Americans view the death penalty and suggest that Americans are moving toward an eventual abolition of the death penalty.

Bill Kurtis has a television series and cold case files and American Justice to all support the Death Penalty. His number one perceptive is” The eight reasons why the wrong people are sentenced to death.” (Kurtis) Some examples are corrupt police officers, Bias Judges and wrongful accusations. DNA has improved the justice system by convicting the right person for the crime. Another book that has studied the death penalty is Proximity to Death. One Statistic states that” the average time between death and conviction is at least 8 years or more.” (Mcfeely) “States have killed over 74 people in the 1997. In The late 1990’s Congress ended funding to over twenty resource

For years there has been may controversies on capital punishment but, numbers have dropped significantly throughout the years. Based on the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the year of 1999 there was a total of 295 death sentences in the United States and, last year 2015 the number was 49. Many beliefs of this drop is due to crime rate decreased, or an increase in jail cells. So if the death penalty has decreased this could be a sign that the system is working and the crime is becoming less severe to society ,but being that there is no cause of how it dropped and, the other possibility is that there could be an increase in jail cells and, it these prisons reach their maximum the outcome could result to the increase of death penalty.

The respondents’ responses went from strongly support to strongly oppose. These answers did not give an entire comprehension of their opinion on the matter. In an article named “The Racial Divide in Support for The Death Penalty: Does White Racism Matter?”, Cullen create a little more complex question by asking if respondents agreed with to give death penalty to those who commit murder. Here more detail was added but still did not was complex enough. In two articles written by R. M. Bohm,” “he effects of classroom instruction and discussion on death penalty opinions: A teaching note” and “Death penalty opinions: A classroom experience and public commitment”, and an article written by M. sandy named “Attitudes toward capital punishment: Preference for the penalty or mere acceptance?” it was included specifications of the crimes saying it was a first-degree murder. They asked if respondents believe the death penalty was applicable to some of the cases. No differences were given to make believe some people deserved the death penalty but others did not. Other studies such as “American death penalty opinion 1936–1986: A critical examination of the Gallup polls” written by Bohm, Clark and Aveni, and “More than ten years after: The long-term stability of informed death penalty opinions”, written by Bohm, Vogel and Maisto, made the polls more complex by making questions that will measure the support of the public toward the death penalty. In this

     When turning on the television, radio, or simply opening the local newspaper, people are bombarded with news of arrests, murders, homicides, and other such tragedies. I believe murder, including the death penalty, is the worst thing that anyone could do. Since Hammurabi first introduced the notion of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, people have been arguing over whether this is just punishment. Those in favor of the death penalty argue that people should pay for the crimes they do. For them, death is the only fit punishment in some cases. This is not the case. The death penalty is, rather, unethical and wrong. A death for another death does nothing but satisfy one's need for revenge. How often do these