Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
As an Illinois resident I was heartened by the fact that a former governor took the politically dangerous action to halt all executions and recently the current Governor of Illinois signed a bill to end the death penalty in Illinois. Tribune With that background, I was saddened to read that since 1976, more than 1/3rd of all executions that took place in our country happened in Texas. Since 1976, Texas has executed 481 people. Truth Progress Why does Texas continue to execute people when many experts assert that the death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crime? If the Death Penalty was a deterrent to violent crime why would Texas and many other states still have so many prisoners on death row?
Take a look at the attached death penalty map that can be found in the linked Truth Progress article. 
I can remember the investigations done in Illinois to exonerate several death row prisoners that brought the issue to a head and had a significant impact on then Governor George Ryan. “The ban comes about 11 years after then-Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions after 13 condemned inmates were cleared since Illinois reinstated capital punishment in 1977. Ryan, a Republican, cited a Tribune investigative series that examined each of the state’s nearly 300 capital cases and exposed how bias, error and incompetence undermined many of them.” Tribune The State’s experiences since that moratorium led to the recent bill that ended the death penalty in Illinois.
Why would a large state like Illinois end the death penalty while Texas and many states in the South especially, continue to execute people? Are criminals worse in Texas than they are in Illinois or New York or South Carolina or Florida? Gov. Quinn in Illinois faced stiff opposition to his signing of the death penalty ban from the Cook County States Attorney and the Illinois Attorney General, both Democrats. The facts that stared Gov. Quinn in the face made it hard for him to listen to the death penalty advocates.
“The Tribune examination found at least 46 inmates sent to death row in cases where prosecutors used jailhouse informants to convict or condemn the defendants. The investigation also found at least 33 death row inmates had been represented at trial by an attorney who had been disbarred or suspended; at least 35 African-American inmates on death row who had been convicted or condemned by an all-white jury; and about half of the nearly 300 capital cases had been reversed for a new trial or sentencing hearing.” Tribune The death penalty discussion is not a partisan issue. Both Democrats and Republicans find themselves on both sides of the issue.
When you read that 13 death row inmates in Illinois were exonerated after the death penalty moratorium was initiated, how many innocent inmates in other states were later killed by state governments? How many innocent prisoners were convicted and sentenced to death with faulty or circumstantial evidence or under less than proper circumstances as noted in the Tribune investigation?
The death penalty has been a hot political football for years and will probably continue to be used by politicians on both sides of the aisle. No politician wants to look soft on crime. Isn’t it time for the politicians of this country to look beyond the “law and order” mentality and actually look at the facts? Is it time for a national ban on executions like most of the industrialized democracies in the world? How many of these politicians who are “gung-ho” to continue killing prisoners are also self avowed pro-lifers? Is there a contradiction in pushing for executions while arguing that abortions should not be allowed?
Is it too much to ask that fairness and the facts control these life and death decisions? What do you think?
Pete:
“Not a dimes worth of difference between the two parties” – as Gov. Wallace put it.
Only one party in this country- the Property party. It has two wings – as Gore Vidal put it.
AY
it was the same in alabama during the 70’s. there were only two elected republicans that i can think of. the november elections were only a formality. what mattered was the democratic primary and the runoffs (the runoffs kept blacks from being elected). by the 90’s it was rare to find a white democrat. just look what they did to don segalmann.
seconded raff, good topic
Raff,
Thanks for the topic…… And yes….that is a wonderful link…..
Swarthmore,
Great links!
By Bob Ray Sanders
bobray@star-telegram.com
sanders Two events last week — one in the Connecticut Senate chamber, the other in a Dallas courtroom — helped once again to focus attention on two of the nation’s most glaring flaws: wrongful convictions and capital punishment.
In Dallas, three more men were exonerated for crimes they did not commit, bringing to 30 the total number of exonerations in Dallas County since 2001. One of the men had been sentenced to 99 years in prison for a 1994 violent purse snatching involving a 79-year-old woman.
About 1,600 miles away in Hartford, the Connecticut Senate voted 20-16 to repeal the death penalty based partly on the growing evidence of wrongful convictions and the possibility that an innocent person could be executed. The state’s House of Representatives is likely to approve the measure soon, and the governor has vowed to sign it into law.
If the measure is enacted, Connecticut will join a growing number of states (the fifth in five years) to abolish capital punishment. California voters will weigh in on the subject in a ballot initiative in November.
After the Dallas defendants were officially cleared in court, both District Attorney Craig Watkins and District Judge Lena Levario declared that it was time to have a discussion about race and justice, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Actually we need a discussion about much more than that in America.
The latest Dallas case again revealed that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and that police, during their initial investigation, subjected the suspects to prejudicial identification tactics. These kinds of injustices cry out for discussion.
How many innocent people are behind bars based on overzealous police work, unethical prosecution or just honest mistakes? How many might be on Death Row?
When it comes to executions, there are signs that the nation’s thirst for blood is waning, bringing some hope to those of us who have been fighting against capital punishment for so long.
Even in Texas, which has the busiest death chamber in the country, the numbers are decreasing. Texas juries are sentencing fewer people to death, and the population on Death Row is declining.
Texas executed 13 people last year, the lowest number since 1996 when three people were killed by lethal injection. In 2000, a record 40 executions occurred in the state.
Four people have been put to death this year in Huntsville, bringing the total to 481 since 1982, when Texas resumed executions after the Supreme Court had declared capital punishment “cruel and unusual” in 1972.
Today 298 people are on Texas’ Death Row, including nine women. The ethnic breakdown is 29.2 percent Anglo, 40.6 percent black, 28.5 percent Hispanic and 1.7 percent other. At the end of fiscal 2001, the Death Row population was 446.
Those are all good signs, but not good enough.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873758/time-to-end-death-penalty-in-texas.html#storylink=cpy
rafflaw
1, April 22, 2012 at 6:34 pm
bill mc,
It will cost society a lot of money to cure the underlying causes of a lot of crime. But we must do it.
“Cheap – no good. Good – no cheap”
“CHEAP is expensive”
http://tcadp.org/ You can join the Texas coalition to end the death penalty.
Well said rcampbell.
eniobob,
That was a disgusting moment from the debates.
Elaine, People here loved W so much that they started switching parties and its has been downhill since then. Except in the valley or in an inner center a democrat does not have a chance to win and the republicans are all pro death penalty. I have given up and will soon be moving out of state or to Austin where they ignore the rest of the state.
Elaine,
Ouch….. When I originally left Texas…… It is as all democrats in power…..Except for the governor’s office…. Then Ann was elected then it pretty much went republican after that….. So, it was not on my watch so to say…..
AY,
Who elected those people who have no moral fiber?
Elaine, The republicans run everything here with huge majorities. There are a few congress people that are okay but they don’t have a say in state issues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcVGzqwfx7k
“Americans understand justice”:=(
Elaine,
There is no one in power today in Texas with an ounce of moral fiber…… Save Lloyd Doggett….. But he’s in congress now…..
I think Texans of conscience should do something about this.
Whether killling people who kill is a deterent to others who are thinking about it is beside the point if you are a God Fearin Christian. The Sixth Commandment is written in stone: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Oh, I know, the Texans and Bible thumpers who like to kill have the King James Sears Roebuck version of the Bible which some versions say Thou Shalt Not Murder. But. And it is a big butt. Do you want to take a chance? When the People of the State of Texas “execute” some person they are all collectively killing that person. When each Texan dies and goes to meet his maker he/she will have to answer for the crime. Which is why Hell hath so many Texans. Oh, Saint Peter lets a few off the hook and sends them to Limbo, which is a suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri called Florissant. But few Texans make it to Heaven these days. And, that is a fact Jack.
I’ve asked a version of this question on a different issue, but it’s also applicable to the issue of capital punishment. In the United States of America in the early 21st century, how many innocent people being executed for crimes they didn’t commit should it take to realize that satisfying our blood lust by revenge killing is not worth the risk of depriving any innocent American citizen his/her right to liberty and freedom? One, and that number has long passed.
It quite obviously doesn’t work as a deterrent. So, the only other justications I can think of are pure state sponsored revenge and simply not wanting to pay to feed and house a convicted killer for a life term. The latter is just cold. Are we THAT callous as a people? I don’t think that one is the most prevelant. Now, are revenge and bloodlust parts of the American psyche? Oh my yes, and this is much deeper and harder to dampen.
This should not be a divisive issue, however. Most liberals already oppose the death penalty. Conservative non-Catholics should agree based on their opposing the potential for government to deny a citizen’s Constutitional guarantees. Conservative Catholics should agree because that’s their church’s teaching and position. Evangelical Christians should agree because the “eye for an eye” alibi is drawn from the Old Testament. Christ’s message was of turning the other cheek and loving they neighbor as thyself and stuff. A follower of Christ would view things more from Christ’s perspective, wouldn’t he? Unless he’s looking for an excuse to justify the unjust–ifiable. Adhering more closely to the Christians’ Old Testament would be understandable for a Jew as the book kinda resembles the Torah, but most Jews already oppose the death penalty. Duh.
You are right Pete.
AY,
If we can rehabilitate any, we should.
kinda hard to revive someone who has been wrongly executed too.
Raff,
I think it would actually cost less to rehabilitate them than incarceration…. I read that somewhere….