| How to Obtain
Documents |
| |
| NCJ Number:
|
NCJ 153841
|
| Title:
|
Future of the Death Penalty in the U.S. (United States): A Texas-Sized Crisis
|
| Author(s):
|
R C Dieter
|
| Corporate Author:
|
Death Penalty Information Ctr
United States
|
| Sale:
|
National Institute of Justice/
NCJRS paper reproduction
Box 6000, Dept F
Rockville, MD 20849
United States
NCJRS Photocopy Services
Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
United States
Death Penalty Information Ctr
1606 20th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
United States |
| Publication Date:
|
1994 |
| Pages:
|
34 |
| Type:
|
Legislation/policy analysis |
| Origin:
|
United States |
| Language:
|
English |
| Annotation:
|
The death penalty in Texas is in a state of crisis, and this has implications for the rest of the Nation. |
| Abstract:
|
Numerous death penalty cases in Texas have been tainted by overzealous prosecutions and the use of perjured testimony. State-paid medical "experts" make unreliable predictions about defendants' future dangerousness, and other doctors lie about tests they never performed. Since 1987, six innocent people have been sentenced to death and later released. The race of the defendant and victim play a major part in which cases are selected for the death penalty. Legal representation of indigent defendants at trial is often incompetent, and representation for appeals is often nonexistent. The costs of the death penalty in Texas are in the hundreds of millions of dollars and continue to increase. During the period when Texas rose to become the Nation's leading death penalty State, its crime rate grew by 24 percent, and its violent crime increased by 46 percent, much faster than the national average. Many in America are pushing for a faster pace and a wider use of the death penalty on both the State and Federal levels. Texas is a paradigm of what can happen under such an expansion. 110 references |
| Main Term(s):
|
Court procedures |
| Index Term(s):
|
Capital punishment ; Corrections statistics ; Criminology ; Death row inmates ; Texas |
| |
To cite this abstract, use the following link:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=153841
|
* A link to the full-text document is provided whenever possible. For documents
not available online, a link to the publisher's web site is provided.
|
|
Help | Contact Us | Home
