The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has issued its 2011 year-end report, "Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2011: The Year in Review," in Adobe .pdf format.
TCADP has also issued a news release announcing the report, "State of Texas Carries Out Fewest Executions Since 1996, According to New Report from TCADP. New Death Sentences Remain at Record-Low Level, Imposed by Just Six Counties in the State." Here's an excerpt from the release:
Executions dropped to the lowest number since 1996 and death sentences in Texas remained at a historic low level in 2011, according to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) new report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2011: The Year in Review. TCADP is an Austin-based statewide, grassroots advocacy organization.
In 2011, the State of Texas carried out 13 executions, which is 50% less than in 2007. It accounted for 30% of the national total, once again a smaller percentage than years past but still twice as many as any other state. Texas has executed a total of 477 people since 1982; 238 executions have occurred during the administration of Texas Governor Rick Perry, more than any other governor in U.S. history.
For the second year in a row, juries condemned eight new individuals to death in Texas. This remains the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ revised death penalty statute in 1976. Once again, just six counties in the state of Texas accounted for the new death row inmates: Fort Bend (1); Galveston (1); Harris (3); Harrison (1); Tarrant (1); and Travis (1). This represents 2% of all Texas counties.
“Texas – along with the rest of the nation – is steadily moving away from the death penalty,” said Kristin Houlé, Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. “Use of the death penalty has been relegated to just a few jurisdictions in the state as prosecutors and jurors accept alternatives that protect society and punish those who are truly guilty. Still, longstanding concerns about the arbitrary and biased administration of the death penalty remain.”
An analysis of data from 2007 to 2011 reveals that only 23 Texas counties have imposed death sentences over the last 5 years; of these, only 10 counties have done so in the last 2 years. Out of a total 51 death sentences imposed in this time period, Harris County leads with 9; it is followed by Dallas County, with 7 new sentences since 2007, and Tarrant and Travis Counties, with 4 new sentences each. The other 19 counties imposed 1-3 sentences each. Together, these 23 counties represent just 9% of the 254 counties in Texas.
TCADP has also provided a map of new Texas death sentences issued between 2007-2011.
Related posts are in the report index.
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