ARBITRARINESS: In the Leading Execution State, Many Receive Probation for Murder

In a recent inves­ti­ga­tion pub­lished in The Dallas Morning News, researchers found that 120 defen­dants con­vict­ed of mur­der in Texas between 2000 and 2006 received only a sen­tence of pro­ba­tion. In Dallas County, twice as many con­vict­ed mur­der­ers were sen­tenced to pro­ba­tion as were sent to death row. Typically in these cas­es, a defen­dant pleads guilty to mur­der, receives pro­ba­tion, and, with good behav­ior, can have the mur­der charged wiped from his or her record.

The News began research­ing pro­ba­tion-for-mur­der sen­tences in 2006 after a white man from a ​“polit­i­cal­ly promi­nent fam­i­ly,” John Alexander Wood, received pro­ba­tion for the mur­der of an unarmed pros­ti­tute. Reporters exam­ined gov­ern­ment records and inter­viewed key peo­ple in the mur­der cas­es in order to obtain their data. Their research exclud­ed cap­i­tal mur­der and manslaugh­ter cas­es.

Key find­ings of the News’ research included:

• The major­i­ty of the mur­der­ers in the study were minori­ties who killed oth­er minori­ties, a pat­tern typ­i­cal of mur­ders over­all in Dallas.

• Many of the vic­tims, like John Wood’s vic­tim, were con­sid­ered ​“unsym­pa­thet­ic,” espe­cial­ly in com­par­i­son to the defendant.

• More than one third of the defen­dants in the study vio­lat­ed their pro­ba­tion with crimes oth­er than mur­der and were sub­se­quent­ly sent to prison.

According to the News’ sources, pro­ba­tion will not be a sen­tenc­ing option for juries much longer. Under a recent Texas law, juries will not be able to sen­tence a defen­dant with pro­ba­tion if the mur­der occurred after September 1, 2007. Judges, how­ev­er, will retain this pow­er and pros­e­cu­tors can con­tin­ue to arrange plea bar­gains.

Texas leads the nation with 26 exe­cu­tions this year and 405 since 1976 when the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed. Nationwide, pro­ba­tion account­ed for 9% of the total murder sentences. 

(​“Unequal Justice: Murderers on Probation” by Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin, The Dallas Morning News). 

See also Studies and Arbitrariness.