In a message dated 3/1/2018 11:47:56 AM Central Standard Time,
sharpjfa@aol.com writes:
To: The Texas Court Of Criminal Appeals The Texas Courts of Criminal Appeals campaigns of Jay Brandon, Michelle Slaughter and Dib Waldrip
bcc: Texas Monthly, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune, WFAA, Houston Public Media, Texas Public Radio, Texas Standard, KERA, KUT, KSTX, KUHF, TV 8, Texas AP, NY Times, Washington Post, and many others
From: Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom
Justice Elsa Alcala's Death Penalty Errors
Basic fact checking undercuts all of the Justice's death penalty miscues.
Texas Court Of Criminal Appeals Justice Elsa Alcala noted ". . . compelling arguments about falling support for the death penalty, noting that a majority of states now decline to execute inmates either by law or by practice . . . and (that)Texas courts should study whether the death penalty is unconstitutional because it is arbitrarily imposed by race, disproportionately affecting minorities, and whether excessive delays in imposing the ultimate sentence results in cruel and unusual punishment . . ." (1).
Reality and fact checking matter:
Justice Alcala's admitted politicization of the Texas death penalty (2) is very much like SCOTUS' Justice Breyer's, nationally (3), - a blind acceptance of anti-death penalty literature, with zero fact checking, as with:
The decline in capital punishment
The Justice avoids, as do many, the most obvious reason for a decline in death sentences - a decline in those crimes subject to the death penalty, as with: -- most crimes are at or near 40-60 year lows (4), making it unsurprising that death sentences are at 42 year lows:; with
-- robbery/murders, the most common death penalty eligible crimes, likely, dropping 70-80%, from 1991-2014 (4);
-- 7 states have repealed the death penalty, all against the majority voice of the people; and
-- SCOTUS limiting, even more, those crimes subject to the death penalty.
Justice Alcala avoids another obvious problem:
The unethical war against the death penalty by many judges (5), . . . which Alcala, wrongly attributes to the states, when it is the judges who do all they can to stop executions, drag out case appeals for 20-40 years and/or will never allow executions, unless the murderer waives appeals, and/or will overturn all cases, which has
-- prosecutors limiting, even more, their seeking of the death penalty, in those jurisdictions where they know such judicial roadblocks exist.
The judges - not the states - are the case managers, pretrial, trial and in appeals.
Justice Alcala is well aware.
It appears that LWOP has had very little to no effect on death sentences in Texas (6).
With regard to racial discrimination:
White murderers are twice as likely to be executed as are black murderers (7). 56% of those executed are white, 35% black (7).
For the White–Black comparisons, the Black level is 12.7 times greater than the White level for homicide, 15.6 times greater for robbery, 6.7 times greater for rape, and 4.5 times greater for aggravated assault (7).
For the Hispanic- White comparison, the Hispanic level is 4.0 times greater than the White level for homicide, 3.8 times greater for robbery, 2.8 times greater for rape, and 2.3 times greater for aggravated assault (7).
For the Hispanic–Black comparison, the Black level is 3.1 times greater than the Hispanic level for homicide, 4.1 times greater for robbery, 2.4 times greater for rape, and 1.9 times greater for aggravated assault (7).
As robbery/murder is, by far, the most common death penalty eligible murder, the multiples may be even greater.
From 1977-2012, white death row murderers have been executed at a rate 41% higher than are black death row murderers, 19.3% vs 13.7%, respectively. ( Table 12, Executions and other dispositions of inmates sentenced to death, by race and Hispanic origin, 1977–2012, Capital Punishment 2012, Bureau of Justice Statistics, last edited 11/3/14)
"There is no race of the offender / victim effect at either the decision to advance a case to penalty hearing or the decision to sentence a defendant to death given a penalty hearing." (7).
White victim murders dominate death row because whites are the dominant victims in death eligible crimes (7).
Justice Alcala seems unaware.
Death Penalty Support
Often, polling results are the product of guided polls, questions which direct outcomes, with directed answers, chosen for a specific result, plus the problem of the media refusing to publish polls that they don't like, all as detailed (8).
Alcala, apparently, did not consider or know of, any of those.
FN
1) Texas appeals court judge voices doubts on death penalty, STATE-GOVERNMENT, Chuck Lindell, American-Statesman, June 17, 2016, http://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/texas-appeals-court-judge-voices-doubts-death-penalty/toqNNLhQXESgSowV7sCMIM/
2) Texas judge who questions death penalty won't seek reelection, JOLIE MCCULLOUGH, Texas Tribune, DEC. 29, 2016
3) Justice Breyer uses some of the same error filled reasons as Justice Alcala, as well as additional politicized points, also rebutted, here:
-- The death penalty is the least arbitrary and capricious of all sanctions
The Death Penalty: Least Arbitrary and Capricious Sanction, http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-death-penalty-neither-arbitrary-nor.html)
-- Lethal injection executions have a 99% success rate
No "Botched" Execution - Arizona (or Ohio),
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2014/08/no-botched-execution-arizona-or-ohio.html
added later
Justice Breyer's Errors in Death Penalty Assessment
4) See Gross Numbers and Rates for Murder and Robbery for
The United States
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm
and
Texas
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/txcrime.htm
The Disaster Center is a convenient, accurate source to find FBI crime data
5) Judges Responsible For Grossly Uneven Executions http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/judges-responsible-for-grossly-uneven.html
WHY FEWER DEATH SENTENCES AND EXECUTIONS? http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/12/why-death-penaltiesexecutions-fell.html
JUDGES AS JACKASSES: THE DEATH PENALTY http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2016/11/judges-as-jackasses_4.html
6) Why Death Sentences Have Dropped in Texas http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2017/06/why-death-sentences-have-dropped-in_15.html
7) RACE & THE DEATH PENALTY: A REBUTTAL TO THE RACISM CLAIMS http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/07/rebuttal-death-penalty-racism-claims.html
8) 86% Death Penalty Support: Highest Ever - April 2013 & Aug 2021
World Support Remains High
95% of Murder Victims' Family Members Support Death Penalty http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/86-death-penalty-support-highest-ever.html
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600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victims' families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
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Victim Services
Victims' Voices
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Research, with sources, fact checking, vetting & critical thinking, as required of anyone within a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
Most will realize that the media has been using only anti-death penalty claims and, then, failed to fact check, vet, not use critical thinking, with that research, while avoiding all pro-death penalty research and experts, for decades. How do I know most will realize this? Because they wouldn't have seen any of this, prior:
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts listed)
