This New York Times piece tries to smear Texas for having the audacity to follow its own laws and court decisions.
For the first time in the modern history of the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions took place in Texas.
Over the past three decades, the proportion of executions nationwide performed in Texas has held relatively steady, averaging 37 percent. Only once before, in 1986, has the state accounted for even a slight majority of the executions, and that was in a year with 18 executions nationwide.
But enthusiasm for executions outside of Texas has dropped sharply. Of the 42 executions in the last year, 26 were in Texas.
I have no problem with other states deciding they don't want to use the death penalty. That's the glory of our system. But you have to wonder about the purpose of a NYT story which boils down to "Texas is still enforcing its laws."
Oddly enough, the reason there are so many executions in Texas is because--gosh!--we carry out the decisions made by juries all over the state.
The rate at which Texas sentences people to death is not especially high given its murder rate. But once a death sentence is imposed there, said Richard C. Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, prosecutors, state and federal courts, the pardon board and the governor are united in moving the process along. “There’s almost an aggressiveness about carrying out executions,” said Mr. Dieter, whose organization opposes capital punishment.
Shame on those juries for thinking their decisions will be carried out! We need more liberals telling us that we don't really mean what we say. We need more nullification of juries, like what happened in New Jersey.
Similarly, New Jersey’s abolition of the death penalty last week and Gov. Jon Corzine’s decision to empty death row of its eight prisoners is almost entirely symbolic. New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963.
Liberals would be screaming about abuse of power if President Bush were to decide to ignore a law. Funny how we don't hear that about executions.
If other states want to ignore their death penalty options, that's fine by me. Maybe being the death penalty enforcer will discourage rapists and murderers from messing with Texas.
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