Now is the Time for a Moratorium on Texas Executions

The death penalty has no place in a civilized society. In good conscious no honest and rational minded person can make a credible argument in support of our nations continued use of capital punishment. In 2010, former U.S. Supreme court justice John Paul Stevens spoke out in support of abolishing the death penalty. Justice Stevens said it was morally wrong, and the "Futility of revenge" and prosecutorial misconduct were additional reasons for the position he was taking.

At last count, at least sixteen states that I am aware of , have abolished the death penalty. And although New York still has a death penalty statute, no one is sitting on death row in that state. A 2004 state court ruling had imposed an effective moratorium on executions which is still in effect. Three other states have since repealed their death penalty statutes. New Jersey in 2007, New Mexico in 2009, and Illinois followed suit in 2011. As I write this, the people of California -- "home to America's largest death row" -- are rethinking their state's use of capital punishment. Now is clearly the time for a moratorium on Texas executions. (See: www.angelfire.com/crazy4/texas/deathrowuse.html)

As the state that exacts the ultimate punishment more frequently than any other place in America, the same concerns of those states that have done away with the death penalty, (or are rethinking its use) are very real and worthy of concern here in Texas. This is particularly so given the fact that our state leads the nation in DNA exonerations; several of which involved death row prisoners such as Anthony Graves who up until 2010, had spent 18-years with an unjust death sentence hanging over his head.

It is clear that juries have gotten it terribly wrong repeatedly, and for decades here in the lone star state. Moreover, it is undeniable that flaws in the Texas system of justice are [?] ingrained in the "behind-the-scene" activities of the police and courts, so much so that a moratorium is just as appropriate in Texas today as it was in each of the states that have dismantled their death chambers.