The Death Penalty in the State of Texas
Introduction
In the recent past, the state of Texas has seen more executions than the whole of America and modern countries combined. Considering that the death penalty was introduced to discourage other potential offenders, this Texan trend should translate to society practically free of capital offenders. It should have a very low crime rate or at least a decline in the number of death row convicts every year, but it doesn’t. The numbers have either gone up, or remained constant.
A good legislation is one that has a positive impact in society and in this case, capital punishment should reduce if not totally stop the capital offences, which include murders that occur during rape, robbery or burglary among others. A good legislation should also guarantee justice and fairness, and in this case there should be no racial or any other form of discrimination in sentencing. A good system should be independent, and in this case the attorney in charge of marking a case as death or non-death should not be an elected officer gunning for a re-elect bid. [2] In addition, a good system should not necessarily be loved by the general public, but at least supported by a good majority, but in this case, the public would rather have the convicts doing life without parole.
With this knowledge, it is impossible to believe that capital punishment in Texas is justifiable. We all want a society where life is respected as sacred, where laws are followed and citizens co-exist harmoniously but at what cost? Why spend a lot of tax payers’ money killing someone whom the tax payers themselves would rather have alive although in confinement?
The capital punishment ideology in Texas is either misused or misunderstood, and this study aims to find out what really is and what isn’t happening.
Capital punishment is legal in various states in the US including Texas and California among others. Texas, however, takes the lead in executions throughout the world. ‘No western or modern (first world) state government kills more people than Texas,’ according to a Michael J. Brown article in the Texas Criminal Law Glossary. In a perfect world, this would mean that the citizens of Texas have gradually become a peaceful lot and there are no more capital offence convictions. But that is not the case. This, therefore, calls for a scrutiny of the system to determine what went wrong. Why did this particular legislation fail to produce the anticipated outcome?
The specific objectives of this study are:
- To determine the trend of capital crimes in Texas.
- To establish the distribution of capital crimes in the state of Texas.
- To determine the groups of people associated with capital crimes.
- To determine the possibility of a wrongful conviction.
Knowing the trend of capital crimes in a state that practices capital punishment is a sure way of determining how efficient the legislation is. It is the one sure ‘cause-effect’ system which should be obvious. The distribution of capital crimes should help determine other factors that affect the trend, other than legislation. This should be things like poverty, culture among other social aspects. Knowing the groups of people associated with capital crimes will expose the possibilities of discrimination in capital cases. Belonging to a group that is perceived to commit more capital crimes gives you a disadvantage even if you are innocent. [3] Determining the possibility of wrongful conviction gives a clear picture of why the system as a whole has become ineffective, since injustices tend to promote crime based on the frustrations of a condemned community.
The objective of this study is to establish the effectiveness of capital punishment in deterring crimes in the state of Texas. The study makes use of primary data that has been obtained from the general public in Texas and also professionals in the legal field such as lawyers and law enforcement personnel.
Methodology
Data was collected through questionnaires that had the following points:
For the legal professionals and law enforcement officers (explain where necessary);
- Do you think the district attorney is always right in marking a case as death or non-death?
- Do you think there is racial bias in granting appeal hearings?
- Would you represent a death row convict in an appeal?
- Do you think there is a possibility that an innocent man can be convicted?
- Do you support capital punishment?
- Do these capital crimes occur in particular places?
- Do executions have any effect on the number of capital offences at any particular time?
- Would you back a district attorney with more or less execution to his name?
For the general public (answer yes or no);
1) Do executions have any effect on the number of capital offences at any particular time?
2) Do these capital crimes occur in particular places?
3) Do you think there is a particular group of people that are more likely to be capital offenders?
4) Are the pro bono lawyers competent enough to secure an appeal and reverse a death sentence?
5) Do you think there is a possibility that an innocent man can be convicted?
6) Do you support capital punishment?
7) Do you think the district attorney is always right in marking a case as death or non-death?
8) Would you re-elect a district attorney who has executed more or less capital offenders?
Results
[4] 700 lawyers, paralegals and law enforcement officers were interviewed and out of these; 40% believed the attorney was always right, 90% said the race of the victim and the accused played a role in most hearings, 15% of the lawyers said they would represent a client regardless of the insufficient fees paid by the government, provided they believed in the suspected offender’s innocence, 20% agreed an innocent man could be convicted based on convincing circumstantial evidence, 70% support capital punishment, 80% said crime was rampant in specific areas of the state, 10% could see a co-relation between executions and capital crime rates and 60% would back an attorney with more executions during his term.
Out of the 1500 participants from the general public interviewed: 5% believed that executions reduced the number of capital offences, 90% believed crime was more concentrated in metropolitan areas and suburbs, 45% said that African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to be commit capital crimes, 70% said the lawyers didn’t work hard enough to secure an appeal or even win it once the accused was put on death row, 90% believe there is a chance for wrongful convictions, 40% support capital punishment, 80% think the district attorney makes haste decisions sometimes and is therefore not always right, and 40% would re-elect a district attorney with more executions to his signature.
Conclusion
Generally, the citizens of Texas do not see any effect of capital punishment except that the convicts never get to commit more crimes. They also believe an innocent man could be executed, and that the district attorney is not always right. This means that for an average Texan capital crimes occur mainly in metropolitan and suburban areas, African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit these crimes, the district attorney is not always right, capital punishment is not the only way, and the executed convicts are not always the guilty ones.
The professionals on the other hand believe that you are more likely to be found guilty of a capital offence if you are Hispanic or African American and the victim is all-white. They admit a racial bias in the judicial system citing presence of ‘convincing circumstantial evidence.’ They also cite finances as a major reason as to why the convicts are inadequately represented and sometimes have to do without counsel when seeking an appeal. This is also a short coming on the state government’s part as it is obliged to provide competent counsel for the accused in the spirit of holding a fair trial.
From these findings, it is apparent that crime does not solely depend on the judicial system of the state. Texas has a strict legislation for dealing with capital offenders, but it still has a very high number of reported capital crimes. Legislation is useful in discouraging crime, but the criminals do not always commit these offenses intentionally. Although capital crimes are sometimes premeditated, they can be quite circumstantial too.
