Texas Report Finds Noncompliance With State Defense Laws

A review of death penalty defense policies in Texas has uncovered widespread noncompliance with state laws that require each region to adopt qualification standards for capital defense attorneys. Only two of the nine judicial regions in Texas have adopted the standards. A report on the findings has been published by the Equal Justice Center, a Texas organization that advocates for greater fairness in the justice system, and the Texas Defender Service, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of death penalty representation. (Houston Chronicle, October 29, 2003) Read the report. See DPIC’s report With Justice for Few: The Growing Crisis in Death Penalty Representation.