The death penalty has been used for centuries all over the world. In biblical times, the "Eye for an Eye" rule was common amongst the people. If one killed someone else, then they in turn would be killed. Keep in mind that these people were very religious and societies back then were more barbaric. Times have changed so much over the years, and now the humanitarian people are trying to put an end to Capitol Punishment. Texas, one of the largest states in the Union, uses the death penalty more than any state in the country. This punishment seems to be more acceptable here than most other places. Texas, however, isn't the only place in America with capitol punishment. There are many arguments for and against capitol punishment and those arguments will be represented here.
             As of 3-31-98, Texas has sent 147 people to their death. Most of these people were killed by lethal injection, while some other states use less humane methods. Texas has put more people on death row than the next 4 closest states combined. Texas' laws for imparting the death penalty seem to be a lot more liberal than most other states. There have been 36 clemencies in Texas, as compared to 40 by all the other states together. This shows that Texas puts more people to death, but it also makes the most inaccurate convictions.
             Race plays an important factor in convictions of crimes in Texas. It is interesting to note the percentages of each race imprisoned in Texas as compared to other states in America. Here is a very shocking statistic that, when compared to national statistics, is very indicative of the racism in this state. In Texas in 1991, African-Americans made up 12 percent of the population, but 48 percent of the prison population and 55.5 percent of those on death row are black. Here are the national percentages of people put to death: White 252 (55.9%), Black 167 (37.0%), Latino 25 (5.6%), Native American 5 (1.1%), Asian 2 (0.4%), for a total of 451 peopl...