I recently wrote an op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman in light of Texas’ 600 execution this past May.
Texas executed Edward Busby Jr. on May 14, marking a devastating milestone in our state’s history.
Busby is the 600th person to be executed under Texas’ modern-day death penalty system. He was put to death despite a lengthy legal battle, multiple stays, and agreement by experts retained by both the defense and the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office that Busby was ineligible for execution due to his intellectual disability.
et Busby was denied this same finding despite experts in his case agreeing he meets the criteria.
But the persistent issues with capital punishment in Texas don’t stop there. With 18 exonerations from Texas death row, evidence of at least eight wrongful executions, millions of wasted taxpayer dollars, and countless grieving families torn apart, it is clear the death penalty is a failure both morally and systemically.
On this somber occasion, Texans must reckon with the realities of capital punishment and decry the state’s continued use of the death penalty. At the same time, Texans should recognize that our state has made great strides in reducing the prevalence of capital punishment.
The use of the death penalty in Texas has dropped sharply since peaking in the early 2000s — leaving only a handful of counties that rely on this antiquated punishment. Of the state’s 600 executions, 71% occurred between 1996 and 2015. In the last decade, the state has put 69 people to death.
Both executions and death sentences in Texas have remained at record low levels for the past seven years, and juries across the state are rejecting the death penalty in nearly one in four capital murder cases. These dramatic shifts suggest that many of the people Texas executed over the last four decades would not receive death sentences if they were tried today.
Even as our state’s reliance on the death penalty has steadily declined, the concerns surrounding the system remain on full display in every case. This has prompted Texans from all walks of life to denounce capital punishment in the interest of fairness and justice.
Included in this groundswell of voices are a growing number of conservatives like myself who recognize that the death penalty is not aligned with our values.
These lawmakers, leaders and constituents have lent their voices on behalf of death row inmates, including those who have been wrongfully convicted, and continue to push for reforms that would strengthen due process, improve the integrity of convictions, and ultimately enhance public safety.
Death penalty opposition on the right has grown because more and more conservatives are facing the truth: Texas will never be a pro-life haven, a tough-on-crime state, or a taxpayers’ paradise until we are willing to recognize that the death penalty no longer serves us. It’s expensive, it’s a public safety failure, and it’s a direct contradiction to our pro-life values.
As we reach this impasse in our state’s death penalty history, I call on my fellow Texans to face the realities of this broken system. Let’s strengthen our resolve to support victims of violent crime, ensure accountability and secure a safer, more just future for our state.
To do this, we must take a hard look at the death penalty. The failures of this system will not stop with Edward Busby’s execution. They will end only when we decide it’s time to do away with the death penalty once and for all.
