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Explaining the decline in Harris County death sentences

A good discussion broke out over at Doc Berman's Sentencing Law & Policy blog about data from the new report by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty which shows the death penalty on decline in Texas, at least regarding overall totals. Most notably, Harris County sent no one to death row in 2008, though they've sent as many as 15 people per year in the past. Indeed, "While Harris County still accounts for a third of all Texas inmates awaiting execution (116 of 344), it only has sentenced seven people to death in the last four years." Why is that?The study looked at new defendants sent to death row, not just the number of executions, so delays in cases because of the Baze lethal injection controversy don't play into the analysis...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 12, 2008 (boomark / email).