...explanations for why Texas executes far more people than any other state and is doing so at a pace that has no parallel in the modern era of the death penalty in the U.S. What follows is a summary of the analyses. Texas has become ground zero for capital punishment. Between 1976 (when the Supreme Court lifted its prohibition on the death penalty) and 1998 Texas executed 167 people. Next in rank was Virginia which executed 60 during the same period. (**my note** as of today, Texas has executed 237 individuals, and Virginia has executed 80) Why do capital murder cases proceed through the Texas state court system with a speed unimaginable in other parts of the country? Brent Newton, in an article entitled "Capital Punishment: Texas Could Learn a Lot from Florida,"1argues that there are three procedures unique to the state's judicial system that enable it to execute convicted murderers with astonishing frequency: 1. Texas' appellate judges are elected to office and hence serve according to the pleasure of the public. Not surprisingly, they require a record of toughness on criminals in order to win re-election. Also, there are many indications that elected appellate judges generally are of a lesser quality than their appointed counterparts in other states. Newton even claims that these elected judges do not carefully consider the complexities of each specific death penalty case. As evidence, Newton argues that "[e]specially during the past few years...the Texas Court of Criminal...
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...ARGUMENTAL—Death penalty in Texas The state of Texas executes more people than any other jurisdiction in the Western world. For this cause, there are many people in society against the death penalty in Texas. However, if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) disregards the decision making of death penalty in Texas more crimes are committed in Texas. The death penalty is used against any person in society who fails to obey the law. There is couple of ways to execute a murderer either by lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad or hanging. These are ways to execute a prisoner who is sentenced with execution, but does this really help our society in general to prevent future crimes? When someone takes a life, the balance of justice is disturbed. Unless that balance is restored, society succumbs to a rule of violence. Only the taking of the murderer's life restores the balance and allows society to show convincingly that murder is an intolerable crime which will be punished in kind. So in essence, “eye for an eye” is the way to simply describe the equality of justice in our government that is supported by at least 48% of all Americans rather than 46% who don’t support. Having to execute prisoners who are sentenced by death penalty is more in favor by Americans. Retribution has its basis in religious values, which have historically maintained that it is proper to take an "eye for an eye" and a life for a life. Although the victim and the victim's family...
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...Death Penalty. Death penalty, capital punishment, or execution is the legal process of putting a person to death as a punishment for a crime. It is an issue that has the United States quite divided, while there are many supporters of it, there is also a large amount of opposition. But like in the United States, death penalty has been traditionally used in almost every country. One of the most common method of execution has been lethal injection. Europe is one of the countries that is opposed to the death penalty yet they manufacture many of the drugs used in lethal injections. Yet they prohibit exporting said drugs for executions. Although the United States is not opposed to the death penalty, it is not legal in all States. Current inclinations suggest that the number of States that execute prisoners is decreasing, in 2013 the executions dropped by 10%. Executions were carried out in 9 states, with 59% occurring in Texas and Florida. One of the reasons for fewer executions in 2013 was the continuous problem that States have had in finding an unfailing method of carrying out executions. The eight amendment to the United States Constitution prevents cruel and unusual punishment but it is likely these trends will continue as more States will likely reconsider the decision of keeping this expensive and useless practice. I believe the death penalty should be legal throughout the nation. I’m a strong believer that the death penalty saves lives and give closure to the victim’s...
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...Texas Death Penalty – Deterrent or Not Extra Credit Essay GOVT 2306-21402 Autherene E. Webster November 26, 2013 Throughout the history of time the death penalty has always been a hotly debated topic. At one point every state in the nation banned it through a federal mandate but later dismantled the ban and state by state began bringing it back. The state of Texas is well known for being the state which has executed more people than anyone in the history of the nation. Texas, known for its penchant for enforcing laws and carrying out sentences has long since had the reputation for executions that are done more swiftly and more often than anywhere else in the nation. When the nation reinstated the death penalty in 1976 each state determined whether or not they wanted to reinstate it. Since its reinstatement there have been 1335 executions. The state of Texas was responsible for 507 of those executions. Prior to 1976 the death penalty had been made illegal in every state. The 1972 United States Supreme Court banned death penalty executions because it felt there had been many years of racial bias and other procedural faults within the capital punishment system (Nolen 2000). Interestingly enough, that is still the feeling surrounding death penalty executions today. The punishment was banned until 1976, when the court ruled that applying capital punishment to first degree murder was not a violation of...
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...Texas has been long regarded as a state fond of the death penalty ever since the establishment of capital punishment. The circumstances in which a person can be subject to capital punishment are clearly defined in section 19.03 of the Texas Penal Code. (5, Metze.) Most of the reasons for executing an inmate pertain to the act of intentional/premeditated murder. Despite the fact that Texas legislature strongly supports capital punishment and the idea of retribution, the issue is growing to be quite controversial to the general public. The Texas legislature largely supports the death penalty and their voting tends to indicate this as fact. A spring 1985 poll conducted in Texas reported that 74% of the Texas electorate support and favor the...
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...Controversy regarding the death penalty has been prevalent in the United States for centuries. Those in favor of capital punishment, a term synonymous with the death penalty, argue that its practice provides a “fair” punishment for certain crimes and serves as a deterrent for heinous acts. However, there has been growing opposition in America. The death penalty, implemented in thirty-two states, should be prohibited in the United States due to the financial cost of death penalty trials and executions, the possibility that those sentenced are innocent, and the inhumanity of failed executions. The implementation of the death penalty in America dates back to the colonial era and is largely attributed to British influences. The first recorded...
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...The rights of death penalty is a major problem in the world. Many people have very different views on death penalty. This even includes Judicial, Executive and Legislative branch. Death penalty still appears to be a common punishment for years to come, but will it last? This here are opinions and certain rules that have been established on thoughts of death penalty by the three branches. The U.S Supreme court has issued many changes of rulings when related to the death penalty. One rule that has been established by Supreme Court in Texas was stopping the act of evaluating intellectual disability in death penalty cases. In Texas, Supreme Court in the Miller-EL v. Dretke case has also shown the Supreme Court to be racially fair when it comes to death penalty cases. They have redone trials before based off their thoughts of racial bias being used in trial. This is one reason why Judicial Branch gets a lot of respect among people. President Obama is a man of the executive branch. His opinion on death penalty by his own words, is a “very difficult and troublesome” matter. Barack Obama does not see death penalty being...
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...jail time, but life sentences are the right thing. The 8th amendment does not support the death penalty. There is also the problem of innocent inmates that die, and then there is the money issue. There are a lot more reasons to keep the people off of death row and end the death penalty. One reason we should quit the death penalty is that 1 out of 25 inmates put to death are innocent and have been put up for the death penalty because of the lack of effort from their legal team. Either that or the state will deny their motion. They go to the death penalty to quick and do not even give it thought. In the case of a Death Row inmate Willie Poindexter...
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...state-regulated execution often cite the term “an eye for an eye.” Their argument also naturally gravitates towards saving money, as cost of housing prisoners is a burden of taxpayers. Denouncers of capital punishment generally refer to the legality of the statute through the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. The main points of the speech were not meant to sway the audience one way or the other, but to give informative, unbiased facts about the death penalty through the speaker’s firsthand...
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...1. Philadelphia County ranks third among counties in the country in terms of the number of people on death row. However, capital convictions there are frequently reversed on appeal and later reduced to life sentences because the county did not provide adequate representation to many defendants. According to a 2011 study by the Philadelphia Inquirer, 69 Philadelphia death penalty cases have been reversed or sent back by state or federal courts after findings that the defense attorney’s inadequate performance deprived the defendant of a fair trial. When these cases were retried, almost all of the defendants received a sentence less than death, and some were acquitted altogether. Maricopa County in Arizona ranks fourth among counties in the country...
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...Of the Death penalty 2/6/2016 On the issue of death penalty the suggestions and thinking of justice Marshall and Brennan, that the death penalty is unconstitutional. After this decision the court has decide to leave the decision on the states to make their laws on the issue of capital punishment. Now advocates are trying to make new laws to end the autocracy and 35 states including Florida they enact the new laws of death penalty. Death penalty was imposed by Supreme Court in 1976 with some reforms which were come from all the states. They provide some guidelines for judge & jury on which behalf death penalty should impose. The guidelines were accepted in 1976 by supreme court in in Gregg v. Georgia (428 U.S. 153), Jurek v. Texas (428 U.S. 262), and Proffitt v. Florida (428 U.S. 242) and commonly this decision is known as Gregg decision. This death penalty decision is imposed or we can say reinstated first on Florida, Georgia & Texas. It came under the 8th amendments of the constitution. Under these reforms there were three procedures which is going to follow every time when someone came under death penalty. First bifurcated trials happened in which there is separate comment for the guilt and number of phases of the trial. Then after it second one is to see whether the crime require death penalty or lesser punishment. Last reform is to review convictions and punishment made. These procedural reforms will helps to states to eliminate the death penalty cases. Due...
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...of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debated in the United States. Opponents of capital punishment often view the sentence to be cruel because it is ethically unjust. For example, ethical problems involve the moral issues in addition to whether it is ever right to execute another human. On the other hand, pro death penalty supporters regularly claim that the punishment is just because it may provide closure to the victims loved ones and it is the direct answer to a murder. Additionally, it is argued that as a result of the injection the supposed criminal may never commit further crimes. Both sides of the issue have strong claims to support...
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...executed in Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608 for being a Spanish spy. 4. Once the moratorium was lifted, when and where was the first execution in the US? Once the moratorium was lifted, Utah would be the first to execute Gary Gilmore in 1977. 5. How many states currently have the death penalty? 31 states currently have the death penalty. 6. What was decided regarding capital punishment in Atkins v. Virginia? Atkins v. Virginia is a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments. However, intellectual disability was left to...
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...The Saga of the Richard Glossip Case: Movement For Greater Transparency Or Abolition of the Death Penalty? Death row inmate Richard Glossip was lucky in that the State of Oklahoma wanted to hang him and they forgot to bring a rope to the hanging. This tragedy of errors raises the real problem isn’t the drugs used - it is the people administering them. “I still don’t know why we had potassium acetate,” according to Alex Gerszewski, an Oklahoma Department of Corrections (“D.O.C.”). We can’t discuss how we obtain the drugs.” http://time.com/4057922/oklahoma-lethal-injection-richard-glossip/ “It is mind-boggling that a state could get something this basic wrong in a high-profile execution following a Supreme Court challenge to a state’s execution protocol,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which advocates for more transparency in the execution process. “There is no excuse for a state to be so unprepared to carry out an execution.”...
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...Death penalty is a punishment for person to put to death by government. There are 103 countries who have abolished death penalty. In Tang Dynasty in China, the death penalty has already been abolished which the first-time human abolished death penalty. Most of the countries don’t use death penalty on teenagers. This essay will argue that death penalty should be abolished because it gives the court the possibility to release the innocent person; there is the race discriminant in using the death penalty; the death penalty is incompatible with human rights and there are other ways. Death penalty kills the possibility for citizens who are innocent to release. No matter how the times progress, misjudgment will always exist. Even though the proportion will be lower, the innocent case won’t be avoided. It is unfair for an innocent person alternative the criminal to sentence the death penalty without any remedy opportunities. In 1992, Cameron Todd Willinghai...
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