60% of all executions in the United States this year – took place in Texas

By Eideard Wednesday December 26, 2007

Coming soon to Texas Cable TV

This year’s death penalty bombshells — a de facto national moratorium, a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting development. For the first time in the modern history of the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions took place in Texas.

Over the past three decades, the proportion of executions nationwide performed in Texas has held relatively steady, averaging 37 percent. Only once before, in 1986, has the state accounted for even a slight majority of the executions, and that was in a year with 18 executions nationwide.

But enthusiasm for executions outside of Texas has dropped sharply. Of the 42 executions in the last year, 26 were in Texas. The remaining 16 were spread across nine other states, none of which executed more than three people. Many legal experts say the trend will probably continue.

Indeed, said David R. Dow, a law professor at the University of Houston who has represented death-row inmates, the day is not far off when essentially all executions in the United States will take place in Texas.

Outside of the Bible Belt, outside of Texas, there is a change in public attitudes about executions because of the time and expense of capital litigation – and the possibility of wrongful convictions.

35 Comments

Misanthropic Scott says:

12/27/2007 at 10:55 am

#28 – BubbaRay,

I thought it was a joke that “He needed killin'” was still a valid legal defense in Texas. Thanks for setting me straight.
Misanthropic Scott says:

12/27/2007 at 10:56 am

#30 – Tom,

New Jersey wouldn’t get any worse if they had a few legal executions.

I can’t imagine what would make NJ worse. Even worse public water? Even more toxic waste dumps? How much damage can one really do to the Garbage State?
Angel H. Wong says:

12/27/2007 at 12:33 pm

#18

If you check EVERY Republican presidential debate, they make it look as if illegal immigration is as bad as terrorism and yet NONE of the terrorists who smashed the planes into the twin towers were illegal immigrants.
Mister Catshit says:

12/27/2007 at 3:52 pm

#25, 3-TH

Premeditated crimes – not crimes of passion, crimes of opportunity and / or impulse, but deliberate ones – ARE deterred, but IF AND ONLY IF THE PERPETRATOR BELIEVES THAT HE WILL BE CAUGHT AND PUNISHED.

While I understand your passion, you missed something quite substantive. No criminal commits a crime with the intention of getting caught. Yes, yes, they might plead guilty and usually do. The fact remains though, regardless of the crime, people do not want to face the punishment. They always do it with the intention of NOT being caught.

You went on to castigate the “PC” or “anti-DP” crowd for fomenting some myth that criminals will not be deterred. Sheet, people will do what they can to avoid being caught and usually deny it. Damn, it was only ten years ago a very famous guy denied getting a blow job at work. He even lied to the whole nation it happened. Why? Because he didn’t want to be caught. So what would have happened if he admitted it right off the bat? His wife would have beat him about the head with a frying pan. So how many people were deterred from having extra-marital sex after watching what happened to this man? (Apparently not many Republicans)
Mister Catshit says:

12/27/2007 at 3:55 pm

#33, Angel,

Actually, most of the 9/11 hijackers were illegal. They all ENTERED the country legally, but had overstayed their visas or were studying when their visas didn’t allow that. And I don’t think the death penalty would have deterred them at all.