Amnesty International has released a new report enti­tled, ​“Too much cru­el­ty, too lit­tle clemen­cy: Texas nears 200th exe­cu­tion under cur­rent gov­er­nor.” It exam­ines many of the near­ly 200 exe­cu­tions that have occurred dur­ing Governor Rick Perry’s term in office, as well as a few cas­es where exe­cu­tions are immi­nent. The orga­ni­za­tion states that the Governor is not sole­ly respon­si­ble for the fate of those on death row, but notes that Perry has ​“rarely exer­cised his pow­er of reprieve, or used his author­i­ty to seek com­mu­ta­tion of a death sen­tence, and con­tin­ues to advo­cate strong­ly for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment.” The full report may be found here.

Since 1976, Texas has car­ried out 437 exe­cu­tions. In 2009, there have been 24 exe­cu­tions in the U.S., includ­ing 14 in Texas. In 2009, 100% of the exe­cu­tions have been in the South.
(Amnesty International, ​“United States of America: Too much cru­el­ty, too lit­tle clemen­cy: Texas nears 200th exe­cu­tion under cur­rent gov­er­nor,” April 30, 2009). See Clemency and Studies.

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