• Death penalty still exists in 76 countries in the world. The United States of America is the only western industrialized nation to retain use of the death penalty. Western Europe does not use the death penalty. The practice has been stopped in Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Russia and many other nations.
  
  
  
• 38 states have the death penalty; 12 do not. The average murder rate for death penalty states in 1998 was 6.2 vs. 3.2 for non death penalty states (deaths per 1,000 population).
  
  
  
• The death penalty does not deter crime. Murder rates are influenced mostly by demographics, economic conditions, the drug trade and community policing practices. Murder mostly represents an irrational act.
  
  
  
• The death penalty is not necessary for the protection of society. Society can be protected by long-term incarceration of criminals.
  
  
  
• In the USA there are at the moment 3471 people who are sentenced to death, among them 118 foreigner and 52 women.
  
  
  
• This year already 22 people have been executed also the first for 45 years in Conneticut.
  
  
  
• 2004, 59 people have been executed. From this only in Texas 23 people.
  
  
  
• Texas is the number one executing state in the Union with 336 executions since 1982 (approx. 1/3 of the U.S. total) as of the end of 2004. There are currently over 400 people on Texas death row.
  
  
  
• California has more inmates on death row, but rarely executes anyone.
  
  
  
• Approximately 1/4 of the people on Texas death row are from Harris County (254 counties in Texas). Harris County has more executions than any state in the Union except for Texas and Virginia.
  
  
  
• There are no exceptions to the death penalty for people who have been seriously abused and neglected as children, people with mental illness, rehabilitated people or citizens of other countries.
  
  
  
• You are at a significant disadvantage in the courts if you are economically disadvantaged. The poor receive court-appointed attorneys who, even if they are competent and motivated, are usually under-funded for investigators and experts. Most people on death row are low income.
  
  
  
• Experience has shown that innocent people have been sent to death row.
  
  
  
• Since getting back the death penalty in 1973, 119 persons of death rows in USA got exonerated because of innocence. 36 cases were revealed only since year 2000. Others weren’t so lucky. People with strong claims of innocence have been already executed in Texas and across the country.
  
  
  
• March 01, 2005 the Surpreme Court decided that imposing the death penalty for juveniles, who were under 18 years when committed the crime, is inadmissible.
  
  
  
• The criminal justice system is tainted with racism. Approximately 40% of the people on Texas death row are African-American while African-Americans represent 12% of the U.S. population.
  
  
  
• The death penalty is more costly than life in prison, a 1992 report in the Dallas Morning News showed the average cost for a death penalty case to be approximately $2.3 million vs. $750,000 for life in prison. This is because of the lengthy trial and appeals process. Shortening the appeals process could result in more innocent people executed.
  
  
  
• The death penalty is driven by tradition, ignorance, fear of crime, politics and vengeance. Many families of murder victims do not favor the death penalty. Two national victims’ organizations oppose the death penalty – for example Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation and Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights.
  
  
  
• Most Major Christian denominations have official statements opposing the death penalty (e.g. Catholic, Episcopal, United Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Evangelical, and Lutheran). The Catholic Bishops of Texas and the Texas Conference of Churches have official statements against the death penalty.
  
  
  
• International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the U.N. Human Rights Commission have called for the abolition of the death penalty.
  
  
  
• The American Bar Association, the Texas League of Women Voters, the Texas Baptist Life Commission have called for a moratorium on executions because of inequities in the criminal justice system.
  
  
  
• Support for the death penalty drops significantly if an alternative that is protective of society is offered.

Source: Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and Amnesty International