The Texas Death Penalty Essay Research Paper — страница 4

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capital punishment (Schonebaum 21). The death penalty has been apposed ever since the Quakers set foot on this land hundreds of years ago. Since then, in almost every time period, one can find strong opposition by influential people or parties. The morality has been called into question thousands of times, linking it to other “moral crimes” such as abortion and mercy killing. Last January, the Catholic bishops of Texas appealed to Gov. George Bush, asking him to follow in the footsteps of Gov. George Ryan (the governor of Illinois), and outlaw the death penalty. His replay to the bishops was, “These were people found guilty by a jury of their peers. These are people who have had full access to the court of law. There’s no doubt in my mind that each person who has been

executed in my state was guilty of the crime committed” (Black 1). To the bishops’ dismay, Bush did not follow in Governor Ryan’s footsteps. It has been argued that, while on death row, the convicts are not treated fairly and humanely, therefore violating their constitutional rights. Death row inmates are kept physically separate from other inmates. They occupy cell blocks on one end of the prison, opposite the general prison population. In a sense, death row is actually a prison within a prison. Security here is maximized. Guards follow strict and detailed procedures when transporting death-row inmates. Condemned prisoners who leave the death-row wing are to be escorted by two prison officers. As they move through the prison, they must wait to clear many locked gates along

the way. They most often alert the officers with the phrase, “Dead man coming through!”. However, a consent decree signed in conjunction with Ruiz vs. Estelle, one of the most comprehensive prisoners’ rights cases, changed the conditions on death row for some inmates. In this decree, prison officials agree to classify death row prisoners as “death row work capable” or “death row segregation”, as it said in the 1985 “Death Row Activity Plan.” As a result of this, some death row prisoners have access outside their cell up to five times a week. Inmates considered threats to security are also allowed recreation, but only in “recreation cages”, which are merely outside areas near their cell block (Marquart 139). It has also been debated that whether it is morally

right to execute a woman, rather than a man. The laws in Texas concerning the death penalty do not mention gender at all. The reason one may not see very many women on death row is that they rarely commit a crime punishable by death. Some of these would be: Murder of a peace officer, murder during a felony, murder for hire, murder during a prison escape, and murder of more than one person. A lover’s quarrel that erupts in a murder is not a capital offense. Until recently, no woman had been executed in Texas since 1863. There are currently seven women on death row in Texas. Three of them have been there for more than ten years. Another reason for few women having been executed is that the governors used to have the power to commute a sentence (Curtis 1). For a century or more,

governors in Texas commuted sentences regularly. Sometimes they had very good reasons, other times little reason at all. From the late nineteenth century until modern times, Texas governors commuted 20 percent of the executions in the state, including every execution set for a woman. However, today the rules have changed. When the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, it came back with certain limitations. In 1983 a constitutional amendment put restrictions on the governor’s power to commute a sentence. The process now follows a system close to this: Near the end of the appeals process, the original judge sets a date for the execution. The date is then sent to the governor and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Two thirds of the board of 18 must recommend to commute the

sentence. If the board votes to commute, the recommendation is sent to the governor, who can then chose to commute the prisoner or not. Without the approval of the board, all the governor can do is grant a 30-day stay of execution (Curtis 3). George Bush has never made any attempt to commute a sentence, however, none of the seven women seem to be likely candidates. An example would be Betty Lou Beets. Beets was convicted in 1983 for shooting her fifth husband to death for his insurance and pension benefits. His body was buried in a wishing well at their home near Gun Barrel City in East Texas. Investigators also found the remains of her fourth husband, who had also been shot, buried under a shed on the property. Police began to suspect her when an informant said he had gone to a