Death Penalty

On April 11, James Clark is scheduled to be executed for a rape and murder committed in June 1993.  This would be the 12^th execution in Texas this year; there has been only one execution outside the State of Texas.  This would also be the 152^nd execution in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor, tying the record set by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

But while the Texas conveyor belt of death continues to roll along, citizens and governments outside of Texas have begun to demonstrate serious reservations about the death penalty:

- Outside of Texas, the number of executions in 2006 (29) declined to the lowest it has been since 1994 (17).  (Texas executed 24 in 2006, and has averaged just over 23 for the previous five years, 2001-2005)

- Several large states now have de facto or actual moratoriums on executions, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York

- According to a 2006 national Gallup poll, 48% or respondents preferred life without parole compared to just 47% who favored death penalty

- Juries in the U.S. passed only 144 death sentences in 2006, representing a steady decline from late 1990s when there were usually about twice as many

The scheduled execution of James Clark (for April 11, 2007) is symbolic of Texas' single-minded, and increasingly isolated, obsession with pursuing executions.