Texas and the Death Penalty Essay

The essay “Executions Should Be Televised” by Zachary Shemtob and David Lat was published in the New York Times in 2011. It provides an outlook of the death penalty in the US. The main focus with respect to this issue is the discussion of whether it is necessary to broadcast executions publicly or not. The central argument on which the essay is built is connected with an idea that the executions in the democratic society should be videotaped and then accessible via open sources.

Capital Punishment, also known as the Death Penalty, has been a part of the United State’s justice system for the majority of the country’s existence. Today, 31 out of the 50 states still recognize the death penalty as a viable option when dealing with high profile crimes, most notably murder and sexual assault. While many people argue that the death penalty should be made illegal, there is also widespread support in favor of keeping the death penalty, leaving the nation divided on the issue. Both sides of the argument possess valid evidence that supports their claims, but in the end, the arguments in favor of the death penalty are noticeably stronger. The death penalty is an appropriate sentence that should continue to be allowed in the

Those who believe that deterrence justifies the execution of certain offenders bear the burden of proving that the death penalty is a deterrent. The overwhelming conclusion from years of deterrence studies is that the death penalty is, at best, no more of a deterrent than a sentence of life in prison. The Ehrlich studies – which took

There are laws and decisions of United States government and higher orders that present controversy to the people of America. In the state of Texas the application of the death penalty is difficult to interpret, especially for the mentally ill, because there is no written law or bill that explains the execution implication in complete detail. The death penalty is a capital punishment of death for those who have committed such high crime. This penalty goes for everyone who does such act no matter who you are, how rich how poor, or where you stand in society. For the longest time, even with the mindset and understanding that those who commit crime to a certain level can receive the execution punishment, the concern and debate whether the mentally

“A recent study by Professor Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock of the University of Colorado found that 88% of the nation’s leading criminologists do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime. The study, Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates? The Views of Leading Criminologists, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Crimonology, concluded, “There is overwhelming consensus among America’s top criminologists that the empirical research conducted on the deterrence question fails to support the threat or use of the death penalty.” A previous study in 1996 had come to similar conclusions.”

In the United States, the use of the death penalty continues to be a controversial issue. Every election year, politicians, wishing to appeal to the moral sentiments of voters, routinely compete with each other as to who will be toughest in extending the death penalty to those persons who have been convicted of first-degree murder. Both proponents and opponents of capital punishment present compelling arguments to support their claims. Often their arguments are made on different interpretations of what is moral in a just society. In this essay, I intend to present major arguments of those who support the death penalty and those who are opposed to state sanctioned executions application . However, I do intend to fairly and accurately

The life it took thirty-seven years for Lester Bower to build, was taken from him in slightly under four hours when a jury with no murder weapon, without fingerprints, witnesses placing him at the scene, or a confession, found him guilty and sentenced him to death. During the next thirty-one years of waiting he was separated from his wife and two daughters; he spent about 23 hours a day in the 5 by 9-foot cell that held him as he awaited his execution. In 1994, he reported that his life on death row was a lonely one saying, “You have people around you all the time, but you have very few friends. There is too much dying on the row, so you don't build really true bonds.” Finally on June 3, 2015, Bower died for the crime that he maintained he

More than two centuries ago, the death penalty was commonplace in the United States, but today it is becoming increasingly rare. In the article “Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?”, Diann Rust-Tierney argues that it should be abolished, and Joshua Marquis argues that it should not be abolished. Although the death penalty is prone to error and discrimination, the death penalty should not be abolished because several studies show that the death penalty has a clear deterrent effect, and we need capital punishment for those certain cases in which a killer is beyond redemption.

This chart shows how many executions there has been since the year 1976 to how many there are in 2015 and 2016. In the state of Texas, it has the highest death penalty with Oklahoma coming in second. The state of Texas has executed 538 people since 1976 to which 279 occurred when Rick Perry was governor of Texas which is more than any other governor had in their term. The executions had risen up in 2000 in the state of Texas where 40 people were put down. According to the chart from where it is at this year compared to the year 1976, the death penalty has declined to very few numbers to where some states abolished it because it violated the state’s

I think Texas needs to discriminate certain behaviors. Many people spent so many years in prison waiting to be executed. I think the government needs to reduce the waiting period for only those people who they are sure that they committed the crime and needs to be executed. Most of the time it’s unfair because those people spend their years waiting and enjoying in prison while the family members are still waiting for justice. It’s unfair that sometimes the family members don’t even witness the justice because they die before the person who committed the crime is executed. The Texas government also needs to reduce jail length for people arrested because of possession of drugs. The government needs to punish them, instead of putting them in

Since the death penalty was reauthorized in 1976, 1,362 people have been executed, almost exclusively by the states, with most occurring after 1990. Texas has accounted for over one-third of modern executions and over four times as many as Virginia, the state with the second-highest number. The Walls Unit prison in downtown Huntsville, Texas is the nations busiest execution chamber.

In the essay "Executions Should Be Televised" by Zachary Shemtob, "a professor at Central Connecticut State University", and David Lat, "a former prosecutor", both the authors agreed that even though executions is violent, it should still be televised so the public can make their own decisions. The author's thesis is that "executions in the United States ought to be made public." The authors explain that "the public wants the utmost accountability and transparency but the public, except the press and some few select witnesses, are only provided with the details in the morning papers and the people should know what is being done in their name

Between 1976, when Supreme Court lifted its preclusion on capital punishment and 2000 Texas has executed 238 individuals (Walpin, 2000). Why do capital punishment cases proceed so quickly compared to other states? Brent Newton, in an article entitled “ The death penalty: Texas could learn a lot from Florida,” argues that one of the reasons to why its reoccurrences is due to Texas not providing public defender system for the underprivileged defendants, and instead relies upon court appointed attorneys who likely do not have any experience in capital punishment defenses or

   The law of God is, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (Bible 79 ), and every system of ethics and rules of our society echoes that law. For decades, state and federal leaders have struggled with opposing views of the death penalty. Many minds have endured this difficult question-Who says it is right to take another human's life because of an act that he/she committed?

Defenders of the death penalty often claim that the execution of criminals will teach others not to do bad, initially decreasing crime rates. This hasty form of generalization statistically proves to be wrong. “When it comes to criminals, Texas has the toughest punishments along with a strict court system. The state of Texas spent four hundred and seventy million dollars in 2001 just for punishing convicts. Despite all that money and stern punishment, the crime rate is still twenty four percent higher than the national average, according to 2003 data” (Gonzales). This supports the fact that tough punishment doesn’t necessarily help crime. Ironically, the harshest state in the U.S continues to house the maximum number of criminal acts. The death penalty, a harsh form of punishment, clearly doesn’t lower crime rate.