Execution 500 and Counting

Texas has always been known for high numbers of capital punishment cases. That much is known by most of the United States. What is not known is just how much of an understatement that is. While Texas is at execution #500, the next highest state is Virginia at 110. Texas has executed more people than the next 6 leading death penalty states. Yes, Texas has a very high population in the first place and a southern attitude for justice that calls for the "eye and eye" policy, but obviously, it seems like Texas is calling for the death penalty far more often than the rest of the United States. First of all, the statistics have shown that both geographical and racial factors play a role in whether or not a convicted felon is given the death sentence. Only 22 counties of Texas' 254 counties have sent convicted persons to death row. With the higher populations in Texas' large urban centers, counties in the area are more likely to send high number of people to death row. It has also been shown that in cases with white victims and/or black killers the proportion for death sentences is much higher than normal.

As mentioned in this editorial of the Dallas Morning News,  if Texas is insistent on keeping the death penalty around, then steps must be taken that ensures fairness. Texas must strive for a more consistent, colorblind system. While I acknowledge this practice that has been around since the Hammurabi's code of the Babylonians and has withstood the test of time, I argue that in today's society, the death penalty may be counterproductive. There is a reason more and more states have abolished the death sentence. For one, the death penalty is so much more costly. The costs to execute a convict is significantly greater than that to keep him/her there for a life sentence. There is also the case of innocent people being executed. While this may be a rare occasion, scenarios like this are what stay in the minds of the public, causing more distrust of the government. By abolishing the death penalty, the state of Texas would be better off financially as well as fend off unnecessary blemishes to its public image.