[James Griffin]

Additional facts for what its worth:

The murder rate in Texas in 2006 was 5.9 per 100,000, which ironically happened to the the national average exactly. As far as murder rates per country U.S. ranked 26th I believe.

Of last year’s (2007) 42 executions, 26 were in Texas. The remaining 16 were spread across nine other states, none of which executed more than three people. Many legal experts say that trend is likely to continue.

Indeed, said David R. Dow, a law professor at the University of Houston who has represented death row inmates, the day is not far off when essentially all executions in the United States will take place in Texas.

The state’s share of total executions nationwide has steadily increased: from 32 percent in 2005 to 45 percent in 2006 to 62 percent in 2007.

Texas courts, moreover, speed the process along, said Jordan M. Steiker, a law professor at the University of Texas who has represented death-row inmates.

“It’s not coincidental that the debate over lethal injections had traction in other jurisdictions but not in Texas,” Professor Steiker said. “The courts in Texas have generally not been very solicitous of constitutional claims.”

Indeed, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly rebuked the state and federal courts that hear appeals in Texas capital cases, often in exasperated language suggesting that those courts are actively evading the Supreme Court’s rulings.