Death sentences remained near historic low levels in Texas in 2018, yet the state’s capital punishment system is still plagued by racial bias, geographical disparities, and fundamental unfairness, according to a new report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP). The number of death sentences and executions in 2018 was consistent with lower use of the death penalty in Texas over the last 10 years. New death sentences remained in the single digits for the ninth time in ten years, with Texas juries condemning seven individuals to death. All seven men sentenced to death in Texas in 2018 are people of color.
Category: TCADP Annual Report
Executions and death sentences remained near-historic lows in 2017, according to a new report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP). Texas executed only seven people in 2017, matching 2016 for the lowest number of executions in two decades, and jurors voted for death in only four cases. For the first time since 1985, Harris County was not responsible for any of this year’s executions.
Today, TCADP released its year-end report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2016: The Year in Review. The report provides in-depth information on new death sentences, executions, and stays; reduced sentences; judicial developments; public opinion; and other issues affecting the administration of justice in Texas.
According to TCADP’s new report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2015: The Year in Review, death sentences in Texas have dropped to their lowest level on record. Texas juries rejected the death penalty in more cases than they imposed it this year.
The State of Texas put 10 people to death in 2014, the fewest executions in the state since 1996, according to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) new report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2014: The Year in Review. This year, new death sentences in Texas also remained near record-low levels, with 11 new death sentences coming from just 8 of the state’s 254 counties.
Join TCADP in Austin for the Bi-Monthly lunch series, support the TCADP table at the MLK Festival, or help deliver the annual report to Texas state legislators. Learn more and RSVP.
The State of Texas is scheduled to execute Edgar Tamayo on January 22, 2014 for the 1994 murder of Officer Guy Gaddis of the Houston Police Department. Tamayo, who is a Mexican national, was denied his right to seek consular assistance after his arrest, as required under article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Read more about his case here. Please note that the scheduled execution of Edgardo Cubas has been moved from January 16 to May 29, 2014. Currently, seven additional executions are scheduled to take place in Texas over the next five months.
Today, December 17, 2013, TCADP released its year-end report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2013: The Year in Review. According to the report, just one county accounted for one third of the nine new death sentences imposed by Texas juries this year.