Wrongful Convictions Give Texas Pause on Capital Punishment

10.24.14

For years Texas has led the nation in executions, but it has also led the nation in wrongful convictions overturned by DNA. CBS-Dallas Fort-Worth reported that state experts are taking notice and reconsidering capital punishment.

Kristin Houle, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, says Texas is catching up with other states that have already moved away from the practice.

“One of the main factors driving this movement away from the death penalty, in Texas and nationally, is the rate or the incidents of wrongful convictions,” Houle explained.

Houle also says there has been a decline in the number of people sentenced to death row and that the state is poised to see its lowest execution date in nearly two decades. 

Eighteen people have been proven innocent and exonerated by DNA testing in the United States after serving time on death row.


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Learn about people who were sentenced to die and later exonerated through DNA testing

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