Discussion 1
Death Penalty
Texas carries out the death penalty more than any other state.
Executions by State (since 1976)
State Total Executions
Texas 515
Oklahoma 111
Virginia 110
Florida 88
Missouri 77
Alabama 56
Georgia 54
Ohio 53
North Carolina 43
South Carolina 43
Arizona 37
Louisiana 28
Arkansas 27
Mississippi 21
Indiana 20
Delaware 16
California 13
Illinois 12
Nevada 12
Utah 7
Tennessee 6
Maryland 5
Washington 5
Nebraska 3
Montana 3
Pennsylvania 3
U. S. Federal Gov’t 3
Kentucky 3
Idaho 3
South Dakota 3
Oregon 2
Connecticut 1
New Mexico 1
Colorado 1
Wyoming 1
And a very large majority of Texans support continued use of the death penalty. Here’s a Texas poll from 2012:
What is your opinion of the death penalty?
Strongly support: 42%
Somewhat support: 31%
Somewhat oppose: 11%
Strongly oppose: 10%
Don’t know: 5%
SOURCE: University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, May 2012
But we know several things:
* the death penalty is far more expensive than life imprisonment without parole;
* the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime;
* the death penalty is implemented in a racially unbalanced manner;
* the death penalty has been carried out on innocent victims.
If you don’t think those things are true, you can easily look it up to prove it to yourself.
Given that the above statements are true, why do we still have capital punishment in Texas? What justification is there – beyond simple blood-lust vengeance – for capital punishment? Is vengeance an adequate reason for the state to kill people, even if sometimes we kill someone who is innocent?
Check out this last table:
Rank Country Number executed in 2012[69]
1 People’s Republic of China 4,000+Officially not released.
4 Saudi Arabia 79+
5 United States 43
8 Afghanistan 14
11 North Korea 6+
14 Republic of China (Taiwan) 6
15 South Sudan 5+
18 Bangladesh 1
Does the company the US keeps by retaining the death penalty cause you to question our continuing to perform executions?
What’s your opinion?
Should Texas, and should the US, continue to carry out executions?
Yes, I know I’ve painted a completely one-sided picture of the death penalty. I haven’t, for example, provided descriptions of crimes committed that have led to executions. I haven’t provided statements from family members of murder victims. I haven’t done several things I could have done to make this a “fair” presentation. I decided not to do that because a) given that we live in Texas, I didn’t think I needed to present that side of the picture, and b) I thought some of you might not know some of those things and might not look them up before responding.
You’ll find that in this class I regularly do not give both sides of the story. My goal is to make you think — to question your assumptions. Hopefully when I present a one-sided story you’ll take the time to investigate the other side. There’s ALWAYS another side! Please do NOT assume you know what I think about this or any other issue based on the way I ask the question or based on what data I present. And please do NOT EVER tailor your answer based on what you think I want to hear. I promise you that you do not know what I want to hear, or even if I “want to hear” anything at all.
The only other rules about your responses to this and all the discussion boards are that you a) stay on topic, and b) remain respectful toward your classmates. Disrespectful posts will be deleted.
Remember you need to make your “Initial Post” of at least 250 words and you need to complete at least two responses (the “Final Posts”) of at least 200 words each to classmates by the dates shown in the course schedule.
Remember there is one date for your Initial Post and a later date for your Final Posts.
