History of Death Penalty in Texas - 2397 Words

History of the Death Penalty in Texas During the historical era in the state of Texas, the use of the death penalty was common and frequent; before 1923 districts carried out executions themselves, in the form of hanging. However in 1923 the state of Texas prepared every execution to be carried out by the state in Huntsville using the electric chair as the method of execution. The state of Texas put to death their first prisoner by electrocution on February 8, 1924 and there were four more executions following the very first one on that date. The inmates that were sentenced to death and the areas that the executions were taken place were located in the Huntsville division from 1928 to 1965, and the last electrocution was carried out on†¦show more content†¦With this being said in 2001 the legislature passed a law assuring DNA testing to any damned inmates whose innocence could possibly be protected as a consequence. Since the numbers of execution has declined per year from the high 30’s to the low 20†™s but this doesn’t have anything to with the advancement in the use of DNA. Furthermore, in 2005 the Supreme Court limited the claim of capital punishment when it ruled that inmates who committed capital offenses when they were a minor could not be put to death. Also Texas altered the law so that the prison term for capital murders would be life in prison and ineligible for parole instead of the death penalty; by using this method the outcome that would reflect less inmates being placed on death row and more inmates serving life. This method worked and usually jurors would send about 30 inmates to death row a year, however with the change in the law the jurors on send about 15 inmates to death row. As a result, the residents of death row have declined from 446 prisoners at the beginning of 2005 to 354 inmates at the beginning of 2009. The amount of prisoners presently on death row is the lowest it has been since 1992 (Carson). Current Law In the state of Texas the current law still remains the same, the local courts have authority every illegal felony case. If a person is found guilty of a capital felony, they may be sentence by death, if the State wanted punishment of that nature. Examples ofShow MoreRelatedThe Death Penalty Should Not Be Legal871 Words   |  4 PagesThere are currently over 16,000 people legally sentenced to death worldwide. The State of Texas has 271 people on death row, the third most in America, but has executed the most people in the country. Twenty-five people have been executed this year in the U.S.; twelve of those have been executed in Texas (Facts). The death penalty must be abrogated because it is an ineffective, antiquated, and expensive form of punishment. Punishment by death has been around since Babylonian times, when the Code ofRead MoreCapital Punishment : An Ultimate Torture Method Essay1352 Words   |  6 Pages Capital punishment has been used as a penalty for criminal behavior for many years; however, its’ utilization has not been constant throughout American history. The basis of capital punishment has undergone a number of changes and improvements in the past, essentially alternating in and out of public favor. At its’ start, capital punishment was ultimately used as a means of torture. Criminals were bludgeoned, boiled, burned, torn apart by animals, etc.—it was an ultimate torture method. ThroughoutRead MoreDeath Penalty Is Unethical And Waste Of Millions969 Words   |  4 PagesDeath Penalty The death penalty how much does society really knows or understand about the process? Many people view the death penalty a justice â€Å"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.† They it is justice and feels safe because of the option of the death penalty; however, most do not really know much about the process of executing a death row inmate, how much more the death penalty cost comparing with keeping an inmate in prison for life without parole. The death penalty is unethical and wasteRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is An Ethical Practice1111 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish II - 6th 4 April 2016 The Death Penalty According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there has been a total of 1,434 executions since 1978 (Part I). The death penalty is the penalization of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime (Part I). According to DPIC, there are 5 ways to do execution. Lethal injection (1977), electric chair (1888), gas chamber (1924), hanging (1890), and the firing squad (2010) all have a history of their own (Part I). These differentRead MoreEssay on Preserve or Outlaw?1731 Words   |  7 PagesCapital punishment has been one of the most controversial issues in American history. Its complex history demonstrates how controversial the subject is. Capital punishment is the verdict of execution as a punishment for a person or persons convicted of committing a crime. In 1972, the Supreme Court determined that capital punishment violated the 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ruling di d not last for long. In 1976, the courtRead MoreIs it Fair to Leave Capital Punishment Decisions to the States?1136 Words   |  5 Pageswhether the death penalty is acceptable. Since the death penalty is currently not considered cruel and unusual punishment according to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is within the rights of individual states to make decisions about its application. The U.S. now houses three sorts of jurisdictions: states without the death penalty by law (abolitionist states), states with the death penalty but insignificant numbers of executions (symbolic states), and states with both the death penalty in law andRead MoreJust Kill Em? Essay1431 Words   |  6 PagesJust Kill ‘Em? The United States has a long history with the death penalty. The â€Å"first recorded execution was in Jamestown in 1608† (â€Å"Death Penalty in America† 259). Since then, thirty five states have continued to use the death penalty. Now it can be considered a normal punishment and many people feel strongly about it, but maybe we should forget what we have done in the past and take a second look. The death penalty should not be used in the United States because it is too expensive, affectsRead MoreThe Death Penalty Was The Babylonian King Hammurabi1539 Words   |  7 PagesName: Victoria Ming Topic: The Death Penalty I. Intro/Background A. History: 1. An early supporter of the death penalty was the Babylonian King Hammurabi. In his set of laws, he set the legal punishment â€Å"an eye for an eye†. This popular phrase was used to punish criminals with death for 25 crimes, although murder was not one of them. 2. By the 10th Century BC, hanging, drowning, boiling, and burning, were added as ways for punishing simple crimes, or even for actions that today would not be consideredRead MoreThe Capital Punishment Is Important For Consideration Is Intergovernmental Relations1423 Words   |  6 Pagesmaximum security versus putting a criminal to death. I will compare the difference between California, Texas and Florida and how it costs these three states so much money to keep their death penalty policy active. Finally, I will provide recommendations in regards to the implementation of the death penalty. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of an offender sentence to death after a conviction by a court of law of a criminalRead MoreDeath Penalty: Time for Change Essay570 Words   |  3 PagesOnce a popular punishment for crime has now become one of the most controversial forms of punishment. The death penalty has been abolished in most civilized nations around the world and states in America are now reanalyzing this method of punishment. There are many critics of the death penalty that find this practice of punishment barbaric and uncivilized. There are however, many that still hold that the biblical verse of Exodus 21:23-24 â€Å"But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for