The rate of crime in Texas has reduced dramatically for the last ten years. Statistics show that the crime rate in Texas is the lowest since 1974; the murder rate and burglary rate are the lowest since 1966 and 1968, respectively. The decline reflects an improvement in public safety, and therefore Texans should feel satisfied by this achievement though despite having some relief, a problem still remains. The death penalty has also decreased, and cases reported to the police also have reduced. The reduction in the overall crime rate is due to the fact that a number of serious crimes are not reported to the police as opposed to other states. “Many people are more attracted to crime because they believe the benefits of crime outweigh the costs, and this has led to increasing in crime rate.”(Mickey M. 1998). As for the number of prisoners, Texas has the highest number of them, and this is due to the fact that it is one of the states with the highest population in the United States. The Criminal justice system of Texas came up with a strategy whereby they outline the expected punishments for different crimes. “The assessments of expected punishment among the criminals vary widely, and this is because they do not have concrete information about imprisonment and conviction.”(Mickey M. 1998).
As for the matter of execution, Texas has more than any other state. Texas is the second-largest state as far as population is concerned, and this has contributed heavily to the increase in the number of executions. However, Texas is not the leading state in terms of execution for Oklahoma is ahead of Texas, and therefore the perception that Texas has more execution does not hold any water. The criminal justice system of Texas is working though it is not working for all Texans equally. One of the reasons why the system is working is that “Texas’s appellate judges are elected by the people of the state, not appointed by another authority. Texas’s political tone is generally conservative; therefore judges might find it advantageous to take a tough stance on crime to ensure reelection; critics also argue that the quality of these elected judges is not as high as those appointed in other states.” (William W 2007) Capital cases in Texas are dealt with by the appointed attorneys who are regarded not to be qualified. There are cases whereby the accused may be in financial problems and cannot afford to hire their own lawyers. These individuals go for court-appointed lawyers, and in some cases, they do not possess the necessary skills and techniques to tackle the case. A good example is that Calvin Burdine hired a lawyer to represent him on his case, and the fellow fell asleep so many times during the trial. This resulted in contentious issues whether the lawyer needs to be awake during the trial or he missed some vital points during the case process. It is because of this reason that several appeals followed, and this made the case go for retrial. However, the system has done a lot to improve the image of the system though so many people have suffered under the past regime of incompetent lawyers and judges. To summarize, crime and punishment have been reduced, and this is because of the policies implemented by the criminal justice system, which aims to benefit all Texans. The system was strongly against the death penalty and how crime can be reduced.
Work Cited
Mickey Manson. Crime and Punishment in Texas. New York: Harvard University Press. 1998.
William Adolphus Wheeler. An Explanatory and Pronouncing Dictionary of the Noted Names of Fiction. New York: Harvard University Press. 2007.