Why Does Texas Still Have The Death Penalty?, Ctd.
On Wednesday, I raised the question. Now comes word from a News-writing FrontBurnervian that the paper has (”quietly”) launched a blog centered on that very question. On it, Michael Landauer cites a chilling statistic:
It’s telling that countries where power and authority are key to keeping people in their place rely on the death penalty. China leads the way in executions, for example. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — all countries led by people who sleep with one eye open — help make up 93 percent of all executions. Well, actually, those countries plus the United States (led, by far, by Texas, of course). So, to recap: China, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States (mostly Texas) make up 93 percent of all executions.
My major concern is that no other Texas county has maintained the DNA records that Dallas has. We cannot be sure that any of the people today on death row are not innocent of the murders they were convicted of. At the very least, we should suspend it, like Maryland, Illinois, Nebraska, and New Jersey to make sure that state does not wrongly kill an innocent person. But the facts weigh against keeping the penalty at all: Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1846. It was the first English-speaking government in the world to abolish it. Its homicide rate is lower than states that have it, which is not unusual.
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