 
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Texas for murder, and participation in a felony resulting in death if committed by an individual who has attained or is over the age of 18.
In 1982, the state became the first jurisdiction in the world to carry out an execution by lethal injection, when it executed Charles Brooks Jr. It was the first execution in the state since 1964.
Texas, which is the second most populous state of the Union, has executed 591 offenders since the U.S. capital punishment resumption in 1976 (beginning in 1982 with the Brooks execution) to October 1, 2024 (the execution of )—more than a third of the national total. Even per capita, Texas has the nation's second-highest execution rate, behind only neighboring Oklahoma.
History.
The first execution in Texas occurred in 1819, with the execution of a white male, George Brown, for piracy. In 1840, a free black male, Henry Forbes, was executed for jail-breaking. Prior to Texas statehood in 1846, eight executions—all by hanging—were carried out.
Upon statehood, hanging was the method used for almost all executions until 1924. Hangings were administered by the county where the trial took place. The last hanging in the state was that of Nathan Lee, a man convicted of murder and executed in Angleton, Brazoria County, Texas on August 31, 1923. The only other method used at the time was execution by firing squad, which was used for three Confederate deserters during the American Civil War, as well as a man convicted of attempted rape in 1863. In 1853, the first execution in Houston took place in public at Founder's Cemetery in the Fourth Ward; initially, the cemetery was the execution site, but post-1868 executions took place in the jail facilities.
In 1923, Texas changed its execution laws, which required that executions be carried out on the electric chair, and that they take place at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville (also known as Huntsville Unit). From 1928 until 1965, this was also home to the state's male death row. The first executions on the electric chair were on February 8, 1924, when Charles Reynolds, Ewell Morris, Harris Washington, Haden Cochran, and Melvin Johnson had their death sentences carried out. The five executions were the most carried out on a single day in the state. The state would conduct multiple executions on a single day on several other occasions, the last being on August 9, 2000. Since then, the state has not executed more than one person on a single day, although there are no laws prohibiting it. A total of 361 people were electrocuted in Texas, with the last being Joseph Johnson on July 30, 1964.
The United States Supreme Court decision in "Furman v. Georgia" (408 U.S. 238 (1972)), which declared Georgia's "unitary trial" procedure (in which the jury was asked to return a verdict of guilt or innocence and, simultaneously, determine whether the defendant would be punished by death or life imprisonment) to be unconstitutional, on the grounds that it was a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, essentially negated all death penalty sentences nationwide.
As result of the "Furman" decision, the 52 Texas death-row inmates at the time had all of their sentences reduced to life imprisonment. Among them was Kenneth McDuff, who was originally condemned for the murder of three teenagers in 1966. He was paroled in 1989, but subsequently executed in 1998 for a murder he committed while on parole, and is suspected to have been responsible for many other killings.
"Furman" led to a 1973 revision of the laws, primarily by introducing the bifurcated trial process (where the guilt-innocence and punishment phases are separate), and narrowly limited the legal definition of capital murder (and, thus, those offenses for which the death penalty could be imposed). The first person sentenced to death under the new Texas statute was John Devries on February 15, 1974; Devries hanged himself in his cell on July 1, 1974 (using bedsheets from his bunk), before he could be executed.
In 1976, the Supreme Court decision in "Jurek v. Texas" once again allowed for the death penalty to be imposed. (Jurek was a companion case in the "Gregg" decision, and was upheld by the Court; the Court stated that Texas' death penalty scheme could potentially result in fewer death penalty cases, an irony given that post-"Gregg" Texas has by far executed more inmates than any other state.) However, the first execution in Texas after this decision would not take place until December 7, 1982, with that of Charles Brooks, Jr. Brooks was also the first person to be judicially executed by lethal injection in the world.
In the post-"Gregg" era, Texas has executed 591 people, making it the state with the highest number of executions. Among the top five states with the highest number of executions, Texas surpasses the combined total of the next four states. There are a variety of proposed legal and cultural explanations as to why Texas has more executions than any other state. One possible reason is due to the federal appellate structure—federal appeals from Texas are made to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Michael Sharlot, dean of the University of Texas at Austin Law School, found the Fifth Circuit to be a “much more conservative circuit” than the Ninth Circuit, to which federal appeals from California are made. According to him, the Fifth is “more deferential to the popular will” that is strongly pro-death penalty, and creates few legal obstacles to execution within its jurisdiction. As of 2004, however, Texas may have a lower rate of death sentencing than other states, according to a study by Cornell University.
Texas has executed nine women in its history, the most recent being Lisa Ann Coleman on September 17, 2014.
In 2005, the state of Texas passed a law allowing life imprisonment without parole as an option for capital cases. Maurice Chammah, author of "Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty", stated that governments of smaller counties supported the move, as death penalty cases had increasing costs due to lengthy appeals processes. By 2021, the usage of the death penalty in Texas courts was on the decline. Rose Calahan of "Texas Monthly" stated that by that year, the death penalty became less of a wedge issue in politics. There were three executions in 2020, the smallest number of executions per year since 1996, which also had 3. In 2020, two persons were sentenced to death, making it the post-1974 year with the lowest number of people sentenced to death.
During the Governorship of Rick Perry (2000-2015) Texas saw a record of 279 executions.
Capital crimes.
Under Texas statutes, a murder is capital if the offender:
Texas statute books still provide the death penalty for aggravated sexual assault committed by an offender previously convicted of the same against a child under 14.
Under Texas law, offenders under 17 are not executed, but the US Supreme Court in "Roper v. Simmons" has ruled capital punishment to be unconstitutional for those under 18 when the crime was committed.
In 2011, the highest age of a child murder victim, which can subject the murderer to the death penalty, was raised from six to ten by the Texas legislature. Under Lauren's Law, this age was raised to 15; however, the death penalty cannot be sought if the basis of the capital murder charge was the death of an individual older than 10 but younger than 15.
Distribution by county.
Harris County courts, in the post-"Furman v. Georgia" death penalty period, were more likely to hand down death sentences compared to other courts, because the county had the financial resources to pursue capital punishment. Other counties, fearful of losing funds, have opted for life sentences.
Legal procedure.
The prosecution may choose not to seek the death penalty. This can be for various reasons, such as the prosecution believing that they could not show the defendant worthy of death, or the family of the victim requesting that the death penalty not be imposed. Additionally, the death penalty cannot be sought at all on a capital murder charge if the aggravating factor was a single victim that was older than 10 but younger than 15.
Trial phase.
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury. A death sentence must be unanimous, while a life sentence requires only 10 votes.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued—even if only a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).
Jurors in the sentencing phase are first asked to determine whether the defendant represents a “future danger to society.” Only after ruling that “there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society,” will the jury choose the sentence itself, by deciding whether there is “sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment without parole rather than a death sentence be imposed” or not.
Appeals.
The imposition of a death sentence in Texas results in an automatic direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's court of last resort for criminal cases (the intermediate Texas Courts of Appeals are bypassed). A person convicted of capital murder may also challenge their convictions or sentences via writs of habeas corpus at both the state and federal levels.
Texas's appeal process has been criticized as too lengthy compared to other states, such as Virginia, by death penalty supporters. In 2016, the legal director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, Kent Scheidegger, asserted: “In Texas, part of the problem is some cases go back for a second review to the trial court, and some trial courts just sit on them for years. That simply shouldn't be allowed.”
Clemency.
In addition to seeking judicial review of the sentence, a defendant may also appeal to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, a separate agency from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), for commutation of the sentence to life in prison.
The Board, after hearing testimony, decides whether or not to recommend commutation to the Governor of Texas. If the Board recommends commutation, the Governor can accept or reject the recommendation. However, if the board does not recommend commutation, the Governor has no power to override the Board's non-recommendation (the law was changed in 1936, due to concerns that pardons were being sold for cash under the administrations of former Governor James E. Ferguson, and later his wife and Texas's first female Governor, Miriam A. Ferguson).
The only unilateral action which the Governor can take is to grant a one-time, 30-day reprieve to the defendant, and can do so regardless of what the Board recommends in a particular case.
Since Texas reinstated the death penalty in 1976, only three defendants who were sentenced to death have been granted clemency by the Governor after a recommendation from the Board:
Death row.
Male death row inmates are housed at the Polunsky Unit in West Livingston; female death row inmates are housed at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit in Gatesville. As of 2015 some death row inmates are at the Wayne Scott Unit (formerly Jester IV Unit) to receive psychiatric treatment.
All death row inmates at the Polunsky and O'Daniel units are physically segregated from the general population, are housed in individual cells approximately in size, and engage in recreational activities in a cage individually, separate from the general population and other death row inmates. Photographs taken inside the men's death row were provided by the State of Texas in response to a Texas Freedom of Information Act request filed by attorney Yolanda Torres in 2009. Death row inmates receive special death row ID numbers starting with 999 instead of regular TDCJ numbers.
Death row prisoners, along with prisoners in administrative segregation, are seated individually on prison transport vehicles. The TDCJ makes death row prisoners wear various restraints, including belly chains and leg irons, while being transported. Death row offenders and offenders with life imprisonment without parole enter the TDCJ system through two points; men enter through the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, and women enter through the Reception Center in Christina Crain Unit, Gatesville. From there, death row inmates go to their designated death row facilities.
Previously, male death row inmates were permitted