[rubbinisracing]

Rich,

Sorry to hear about your niece.

Some Facts about Capital Punishment:

The state of Texas executes more people than any other jurisdiction in the Western world. The death toll is : of the 74 executions carried out in the United States of America (USA) during 1997, one-half (37) occurred in Texas, a record number since the reintroduction of the death penalty. Between the resumption of executions in 1977 and the end of 1997, the USA put to death 432 prisoners nationwide, with Texas alone accounting for one-third of the total (144).

Although 29 states in the USA have carried out one or more executions since 1977. Texas has carried out more executions than the next four highest executing states in total: Virginia (46), Florida (39), Missouri (29) and Louisiana (24).

Executions since 1976, by jurisdiction
Jurisdiction Executions
since 1976
(as of February 8, 2007)

Texas 383
Virginia 98
Oklahoma 84
Missouri 66
Florida 64
North Carolina 43
Georgia 39
South Carolina 36
Alabama 35
Arkansas 27
Louisiana 27
Ohio 24
Arizona 22
Indiana 17
Delaware 14
California 13
Illinois 12
Nevada 12
Mississippi 8
Utah 6
Maryland 5
Washington 4
Nebraska 3
Pennsylvania 3
U.S. Federal Government 3
Montana 3
Kentucky 2
Oregon 2
Tennessee 2
Colorado 1
Connecticut 1
Idaho 1
New Mexico 1
Wyoming 1
Kansas 0
New Hampshire 0
New Jersey 0
New York
(On June 24 2004, the death penalty statute of New York was declared unconstitutional) 0
South Dakota 0
U.S. Military 0
United States
total 1,062
no current death penalty statute: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
* Some inmates are on death row in more than one state, so the total may be lower than sum of state numbers.