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Texas has been ground zero for capital punishment for over 40 years

Dallas Morning News

Originally Posted: December 1, 2019

Dec. 1, Rick Halperin, director of the SMU Human Rights Program, co-authored by Roger C. Barnes for a piece about Texas being “ground zero” in the U.S. for carrying out capital punishment.

Thus far in 2019, there have been 20 executions carried out in the United States.

Eight of them have been in Texas.

There are four more executions scheduled in the country by year’s end, and one of them is to be carried out in Texas. Since the death penalty in the U.S. was reinstated in 1976, there have been a total of 1,510 executions. A staggering 566 of them have been in Texas.

In other words, Texas has been ground zero for capital punishment for over 40 years.

There is no end in sight to Texas executions and few voices, apart from anti-death penalty activists, speak against the practice. It is pathetic that few faith leaders express outrage over what is happening. Equally unacceptable are political leaders who remain silent or give their support to the preposterous idea that some people deserve to be killed. READ MORE