Texans like their barbecue and death sentence

Though it’s being widely acknowledged that capital punishment does not appear to lower the crime rate, Texas continues to impose it, accounting for 62% of all cases in the past year. Of the 42 executions nationwide, 26 were in Texas with no other state having put more than three people to death.

Outside of Texas, even supporters of the death penalty recognize there’s been a change in public attitude, a response to the time and expense of the litigation, the possibility of wrongful convictions and the remote chance that someone sent to death row will actually be executed. The awareness of wrongfully imprisoned innocent people and exonerations has caused people to rethink capital punishment.

New Jersey, where the death penalty was recently abolished, hasn’t executed anyone since 1963. Texas may be the place for barbecued ribs, but if you’re planning to commit a capital crime, I’d do it in New Jersey.