[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

August 13



TEXAS:

Religion, culture behind Texas execution tally


Texas will almost certainly hit the grim total of 400 executions this
month, far ahead of any other state, testament to the influence of the
state's conservative evangelical Christians and its cultural mix of Old
South and Wild West.

"In Texas you have all the elements lined up. Public support, a governor
that supports it and supportive courts," said Richard Dieter, executive
director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

"If any of those things are hesitant then the process slows down," said
Dieter. "With all cylinders working as in Texas it produces a lot of
executions."

Texas has executed 398 convicts since it resumed the practice in 1982, six
years after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital punishment, far
exceeding second-place Virginia with 98 executions since the ban was
lifted. It has five executions scheduled for August.

The average time spent on death row before execution is about 10 years,
not much less than the national average of closer to 11 years, according
to the Death Penalty Information Center. But the average would be
considerably longer if Texas were excluded.

A Texas governor can commute a death sentence or grant a reprieve based on
a recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members are
appointed by the governor.

But governors past and present, including President George W. Bush and the
state's current chief executive Rick Perry, have taken a hands-off
approach.

"The courts are not much of a check in Texas and the executive defers to
the courts," said Jordan Steiker, a professor at the University of Texas
at Austin's School of Law and co-director of the school's Capital
Punishment Center.

BIBLE BELT INFLUENCE

Like his predecessor, Governor Perry is a devout Christian, highlighting
one key factor in Texas' enthusiasm for the death penalty that many
outsiders find puzzling -- the support it gets from conservative
evangelical churches.

This is in line with their emphasis on individuals taking responsibility
for their own salvation, and they also find justification in scripture.

"A lot of evangelical Protestants not only believe that capital punishment
is permissible but that it is demanded by God. And they see sanction for
that in the Old Testament especially," said Matthew Wilson, a political
scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Texas also stands at an unusual geographical and cultural crossroads: part
Old South, with its legacy of racism, and part Old West, with a cowboy
sense of rough justice.

Some critics say the South can be seen in the racial bias of death
sentences with blacks more likely than whites to be condemned -- though
Texas is not alone on this score.

Over 41 % of the inmates currently on death row in Texas are black, but
they account for only about 12 % of the state's population.

Meanwhile, for some in Texas the death penalty is about the victim.

"It's the criminal justice system, not the victim justice system. I need
to get justice for my victim. I need to see that justice here on earth,"
said Cathy Hill, whose husband Barry was shot dead while working as a
deputy sheriff almost 7 years ago. His killer is now on Texas' death row.

Support for capital punishment in Texas has also been attributed to the
state's high rates of violent crime, though it is not strikingly above the
national average.

According to FBI statistics for 2005, the national rate of violent crime
was 469.2 per 100,000 inhabitants while the same rate for murder and
non-negligent manslaughter was 5.6. For Texas, the same figures were 529.7
and 6.2.

While the prolific death chamber in the city of Huntsville, where 19
inmates have already been executed by lethal injection in 2007, makes
Texas stand out, the state is also starting to follow national trends
toward fewer death sentences.

Data provided by the state's Office of Court Administration for 1996 to
2006 -- when the number of murders fell somewhat but overall remained
fairly constant -- show a sharp drop in the number of death sentences
being imposed.

The highs over that period were in 1997 and 1999, years in which 37 death
sentences were handed down. But in 2005 only 14 convicts were condemned to
die in Texas.

The longer trend is a decline of homicides over the past 30 years with a
peak of 2,652 in 1991 in Texas and 1,407 in 2005. And fewer murders should
translate into fewer death sentences.

Demographics could help tilt the balance a bit further, as the state's
booming economy attracts outsiders -- and potential jury members -- from
more liberal regions and as its Latino population grows rapidly.

"Demographics could change things as minority groups like Latinos are
generally less enthusiastic about the death penalty," said Dieter of the
Death Penalty Information Center.

(source: Reuters)