28 February 2007

Houston and the Death Penalty

Houston is in Harris County. Harris County has had 96 executions since the death penalty was reinstated, after being declared unconstitutional, in the 1970s. Only one U.S. state other than Texas, Virginia, which has had 98 executions, has carried out more death penalty sentences than Harris County.

Harris County has about 1% of the population of the United States, but accounts for about 10% of U.S. executions since 1977.

Only a handful of countries in the world have had as many executions in the past 30 years at Harris County. China, Iran and Saudi Arabia clearly have more, but few other countries are in the list.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well that should only say one thing- don't commit any murders in Harris county TEXAS.

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...

Or, it could say that Harris County, Texas is a primitive, lawless place where you should avoid doing business.

Anonymous said...

I guess that some people think that having to pay for your crime is primitive. So what do you think should be done just slap them on the wrist and ask them not to do it again will work.

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...

Decades in prison is not a slap on the wrist.