Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

PRESS CONFERENCE TO MARK 20 YEARS OF LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTIONS

On Dec. 7, 1982, Charlie Brooks of Texas became 1st inmate in the United States to die on gurney; since then, 644 have followed

 Dec. 5, 2002 - The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 in the Speaker's Committee Room of the state capitol to mark the 20th anniversary of lethal injection executions, both in Texas and in the United States.

 Speaking at the press conference will be Rick Halperin, president of TCADP; David Atwood, spokesman for Pax Christi and Dr. Paula Rogge, an emergency room physician, who will dispel myths that lethal injection is a "more humane" way to execute people.

 Excluding people put to death by lethal injections by the Nazis in the 1939-1945 era, Charlie Brooks became the first inmate to die by lethal injection on Dec. 7, 1982. Since then, 644 people have followed Brooks to the execution gurney.

 Halperin said 37 states, as well as the U.S. Military and the federal government, now use lethal injection as the preferred method of execution, although many of these states have the option of lethal injection or some other form of execution. One state -- Nebraska -- still uses electrocution.

 Halperin noted that lethal injection was first used in October 1939 in Austria and Germany to eliminate 10,000 "defective" children within a 2-year period. "Many Americans assume that lethal injection was invented in this country," he said. "But history reveals its gruesome origin. Far from learning from history's mistakes, we are repeating them."

 Halperin added that a recent study released by the non-profit Texas Defender Services found that Texas is executing many inmates who have not been properly represented during habeas corpus appeals. "While other states have begun examining whether their death penalty system is fair, Texas officials bury their heads in the sand and pretend we have no problems," he said. "To paraphrase former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, it is not a question of whether a majority of the Texas public feels that capital punishment is barbarously cruel, but whether it would do so if it had all available information. Texas officials can hide from the issue, but they cannot keep information about the death penalty from being made available to the general public."

 Halperin said that even though Texas will execute its 300th inmate early next year, efforts to restrict, and ultimately abolish the death penalty in Texas continue, and that the state will indeed come to embrace the idea that individuals do not have to be put to death in order to keep society safe. 

The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) is a grassroots Texas organization comprised of individuals and groups who work to end the death penalty in all cases, everywhere. We are an inclusive organization composed of human rights activists; death row prisoners and their families; crime victims and their families; persons working within the criminal justice system; persons opposed to capital punishment on religious and moral grounds; and other concerned citizens opposed to capital punishment.