Death_Penalty

Give an overview of the Death Penalty in Texas. What are the ongoing concerns about its validity as a form of punishment. The death penalty at the State level in Texas dates back to 1923. There is rich history from 1923 up through present that has affected the course Texas has taken through the years concerning the death penalty. Prior to 1923, Texas counties were responsible for their own executions and hanging was generally their means of execution. In 1923, all executions were ordered by the State of Texas to be carried out in Huntsville, Texas. The electric chair was its first means of execution. The first offender to be put to death by electrocution, Charles Reynolds from Red River County was executed on February 8, 1924. There were four other men executed on that same day. The electric chair was used as the means of execution from 1923 until 1964. The last offender to be put to death by electrocution, Joseph Johnson from Harris County, was carried out on July 30, 1964. Texas electrocuted 361 inmates from 1924 to 1964. In 1964 Judicial challenges to capital punishment resulted in a de facto moratorium on executions in the United States. On June 29, 1972 the U. S. Supreme Court declared capital punishment a “cruel and unusual punishment,” at which time Texas had 45 men on death row at the state level and 7 men in county jails across Texas awaiting execution. Then Governor, Preston Smith commuted all of these sentences to life, and death row in Texas was clear by March 1973. In 1973, revision to the Texas Penal Code allowed assessment of the death penalty and allowed for executions to resume, effective January 1, 1974. John Devries was the first man put on death row on February 15, 1974. However, Devries comitted suicide by hanging himself with bed sheets, on July 1, 1974. The State of Texas adopted lethal injection as its means of execution in 1977 and Charlie Brooks of Tarrant County was the first person executed by lethal injection on December 7, 1982. Texas was the first state to use lethal injection. In July, 1965 death row moved from downtown Huntsville, to the new Ellis unit. When executions resumed, prisoners had to be transported 12 miles to the Huntsville unit for execution. Executions by lethal injection were rare at first, there were only 43 in the first ten years. Because of an escape and death of one prisoner the Ellis unit was deemed not secure enough, and in 1993 prisoners were moved to the Terrell unit in Livingston, about 45 minutes from Huntsville. The prisoners had to be transported to the Huntsville unit for execution. In 2001, this unit was renamed the Polunsky unit. In 2000 Texas came under National scrutiny because it led the nation in executions and because George W. Bush was running for President. For Bush, the media was creating growing doubts about the ability of the legal system to accurately determine guilt. This turned the Texas governor’s supreme confidence that “no mistakes” have been made in sentencing and execution of 134 men and women in Texas since he took office into a potential political liability. David Axelrod, Democratic consultant said “The problem for Bush is not that he supports the death penalty, but he is behind the curve when he suggests they never make any mistakes in Texas because I don’t think anybody believes that.” One of the main weapons death-penalty opponents weilded in the attack on capital punishment was the availability of DNA testing which had become much more sophisticated in 2000 than when most death-row inmates were convicted. In 2001 a law was passed guaranteeing DNA testing to any condemned prisoner whose innocence might be secured as a result. Another principle issue in the early 2000’ is whether a prisoner who is mentally retarded should be executed. The Texas legislature passed a law in 2001 protecting the mentally retarded, however, Rick Perry vetoed the bill, saying Texas already had laws on the books protecting the mentally retarded. On June 20, 2002 the Supreme Court found that a “national consensus” had developed that executing mentally retarded prisoners is cruel and ununual punishment, and therefore the Court ruled it unconstitutional. In 2005 The Supreme Court ruled that prisoners under age 18, who committed capital offenses could not be executed. Also, in 2005 Texas changed the law so that capital murderers sentenced to life in prison, rather than the death penalty would be ineligible for parole. Because of all the changes in the laws since 2000 the number of prisoners on death row is the lowest it has been since 1992. One thing that gives validity to the death penalty is the belief that justice has been served when someone is put to death for committing murder with aggravating circumstances. It is also believed that capital punishment permanently removes the worst criminals from society, reducing crime in the long run and saving lives. There is also the argument that criminals should suffer in proportion to the crime committed. It also gives closure to the victim’s family.