FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (source: TCADP) ----Texas Set to Carry Out 200th Execution during Perry Administration;
State Remains Out of Step with Changing National Landscape
Austin, Texas — On June 2, 2009 – barring an unlikely last-minute
reprieve – the State of Texas will carry out its 200th execution under
the administration of Governor Rick Perry. The execution of Terry
Hankins will mark the 16th this year; 14 other executions have taken
place nationwide. Five more executions are set to occur in Texas
between July and September.
Nearly half of Texas’ 438 executions since 1982 have taken place in the
last 8 years alone. "In this same time period, the death penalty
landscape has changed dramatically both in Texas and nationwide," said
Kristin Houlé, Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty (TCADP). "Since Governor Perry was sworn into office on
December 21, 2000, three states have abandoned the death penalty
entirely and numerous state legislatures have made significant progress
in advancing repeal legislation, particularly during their 2009
sessions."
Since 2001, 40 people – including two in Texas – have been released
from death row due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. In
addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the death penalty for
persons with mental retardation and juvenile offenders, rendering more
than three dozen Texas death sentences unconstitutional.
While Texas remains far out of step with the rest of the country, and
the world, regarding executions, support for the death penalty in this
state appears to be waning as public confidence in the fairness and
accuracy of the ultimate form of punishment continues to diminish. New
death sentences have declined more than 50% in Texas in the past 6
years as prosecutors and juries have come to accept the alternative
punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole (LWOP)
as a reliable way to protect society, punish the guilty, and guard
against convicting and executing innocent people.
"Rather than speaking of seceding, the leaders of this great state
should be following the example of their peers in New Mexico, Maryland,
New Jersey, and many others in examining the necessity and utility of
capital punishment," said Houlé. "It is time to divert our state's
valuable resources to programs that truly prevent crime and provide
meaningful victims' services, rather than perpetuate the cycle of
violence with state-sponsored killing."
For more facts and figures related to the 200th execution, go to http://www.tcadp.org/uploads/Perry200FactSheet.pdf.
TCADP members will hold vigils and other events on June 2 in multiple locations throughout the state.
In Dallas, TCADP members will gather at 10:00 AM for a press conference
in front of the Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 North Industrial
Blvd. 75207 Speakers include: Stanley Allridge, whose brother James
Allridge III was executed in 2004; Reverend Carroll Pickett, the former
death house chaplain at the Walls Unit in Huntsville who accompanied 95
men to their executions; and Dr. Rick Halperin, the Director of the SMU
Human Rights Education Program and TCADP Board member. Contact Rick
Halperin for more information at 214-768-3284.
See http://tcadp.org/index.php?page=vigils for a complete list of vigil sites.
(source: TCADP)
