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Study: Texas Not No. 1 in Death Penalty
Another urban legend discredited.Despite its reputation as the nationâs death penalty leader, Texas is less likely than some other states to sentence convicted murders to death, according to a new study. Bishop Tutu should read this article and compare Bushâs Texas to Saddam Huseinâs Iraq. It is, however, more likely than other states to carry out a death sentence once it is imposed, according to the study, sponsored by the Cornell Law School Death Penalty Project, which provides legal services to death-row inmates. The governors of Texas follow state law. Whadda concept. Texas actually trails the national average when it comes to the percentage of people convicted of murder who are sentenced to death, says the study, published in the new Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. As a percentage of murders, Nevada and Oklahoma impose the most death sentences, at 6 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. The national average is 2.5 percent. In Texas, the percentage is 2 percent, but that is based on a larger number of murders than other states. ``Texasâs reputation as a death-prone state should rest on its many murders and on its willingness to execute death-sentenced inmates,ââ wrote the authors of the study. ``It should not rest on the false belief that Texas has a high rate of sentencing convicted murderers to death.ââ Are you reading this Desmond? Texas had about 38,000 murders from 1976-1998 that resulted in the arrest of people older than 16, according to the FBI records. California was the only state that had more, at 50,000. During that same period, Texas used the death sentence 776 times. As of this past week, Texas had executed 319 people since 1976. By contrast, only 10 people have been executed in California, where 795 people were sentenced to death from 1976 through 2002. Interesting statistics. Is California obeying their own laws oris it because theyâre handicapped by the 9th ``It tells you there are absolutely massive post-sentencing differences,ââ Theodore Eisenberg, a law professor at Cornell and an author of the study, told The New York Times. Posted by: GK 2004-02-16 |
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